


It's About Time

by shewritesall



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Dad!Tony, F/M, Gen, High School, Irondad, Midtown High, Pepper Stark - Freeform, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter Stark - Freeform, Son!Peter, ironman - Freeform, spiderman - Freeform, spiderson, tony stark has a son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 25,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15096776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewritesall/pseuds/shewritesall
Summary: Tony has always been overprotective of his son, Peter.  After being exploited by his own dad, Howard, to bring good publicity to Stark Industries, Tony vowed never to let that happen to Peter.  But now Peter's about to go into high school and Tony has to face reality: his little boy isn't going to be little much longer.  Maybe he should let Peter out into the world a little more.  Tony quickly regrets it.





	1. Chapter 1

"Dad, please!" Peter begged, sagging down so his chin rested on the counter in the kitchen. Tony had tried ignoring Peter for the past hour, but it had only given Peter the time he needed to explain his reasoning and try to convince Tony it was best. Unfortunately for Tony, Peter had good points and he was now having a hard time keeping to his original 'no'.

"Peter, we'll see," Tony sighed. Peter's face lit up and he stood up straight.

"Really? Like, you'll actually think about it?" Peter asked. This was the closest he'd gotten to a 'yes' ever.

"I'll actually think about it," Tony promised. Peter pumped his first and cheered before running down the hall to his room. He had finally managed to get his dad to at least think about sending him to a public high school. If he was considering it and Peter could get Pepper to talk to him, Peter would actually get his wish. Pepper was already on his side and now Tony was really, truly going to think about it. As soon as Peter got into his room, he grabbed his phone and texted Ned, one of the only two people his age that he knew.

**Peter**  
_Dad's gonna think about it!!!_

Peter laid on his bed and grinned up at the ceiling, day dreaming about what it would be like to go to a real school. There would be more kids his age and Peter could make more friends. Ned and Michelle were great, but it was hard to relate to them and their school adventures when Peter was stuck home schooling. Peter had only met Ned because he was Pepper's nephew and she had introduced them at a young age. Of course, being the only kid Peter knew, the two became good friends. In fifth grade, Ned introduced him to Michelle and they had gotten along as well. Peter loved homeschooling, but he would much rather go to a school with other kids.

He thought about how he could join all the clubs and be apart of a band. It was going to be so great. He would have at least two dozen friends, they could all hang out after school, and he would have teachers other than the ones online or his dad. It would be awesome. Nothing could kill his happiness as he laid on his bed and imagined what a real high school would be like. Ned and Michelle had told him public school wasn't all that great, but they didn't know what it was like to homeschool, so Peter dismissed their opinions. All he saw was himself walking down a long hallway with his friends, talking about their upcoming soccer game or band performance.

* * *

That night at dinner, Peter couldn't stop bouncing. He kept looking at Pepper then Tony, Pepper than Tony. Finally, Pepper sighed and looked at Tony. Tony didn't seem to realise he was about to be harassed by his wife and son. He continued to eat his baked potato as usual and only looked up when he realised no one else was eating. As soon as he looked up, Pepper started.

"Tony, you really should let Peter attend a local high school," she said. Tony groaned and was about to cover his ears, but Pepper gave him a stern look. "How is he expected to do well in college if he's never been with kids like himself before then?"

"He has Ned and Michelle," Tony pointed out. Pepper rolled her eyes. Peter looked back and forth between them, slowly eating his food. He didn't care if they acted like he wasn't there so long as the conversation ended successfully.

"You know what I mean," she said. Tony did and they both knew it. "Peter's a good kid. He would do well."

"But the press," Tony objected. "Once Peter is registered, someone will see the name Stark and he'll be all over the news." Pepper pursed her lips. That was the only problem neither of them had a solution to. Tony would let Peter go if he was sure no one would harass him for being a Stark, but they had yet to find a solution. At least, Pepper and Tony hadn't figured one out yet.

"What if I'm registered under a different name?" Peter suggested. Tony and Pepper both looked at Peter as if just remembering he was there. He gave them an awkward smile and continued. "Like, Uncle Steve could sign as my legal guardian or something so my legal name could be Peter Rogers. It's a common enough name they wouldn't tie me back to Uncle Steve."

"That could work," Tony said slowly. He thought about it harder. They would have to figure out some way to legally change Peter's name so it wouldn't appear anywhere as Stark.

"I can talk to the lawyers about it," Pepper said. She brightened at the thought of Peter finally getting what he wanted. "I'm sure there's a way you can change your name without having to change families completely." Peter nodded enthusiastically.

"If it works out, Dad, can I go?" Peter asked. Tony still seemed hesitant. Peter and Pepper were both watching him eagerly, so he sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "As long as it's a fool proof plan and there's no risk of things getting to the press. I don't want them ruining your life." Peter cheered and jumped up from his seat. His legs hit the table and almost knocked it over, but he didn't care. Pepper smiled as Peter ran laps around the living room, yelling excitedly about going to a regular school.

"Thank you, Tony," Pepper said. Tony tore his eyes away from Peter and frowned, confused as to why she was thanking him. "Look how excited he is. I think you made the right choice."

"I hope so," Tony said. He knew Peter was excited, but he was still worried about how wrong things could go. He had only ever gone to private schools so he had no idea what public school would be like. Pepper had assured him Ned and Michelle would help him out which had reassured Tony a bit. Nothing made him entirely relaxed, but he figured that was normal.


	2. Chapter 2

It took three days before Pepper got an answer from the lawyers. She had tried explaining what they wanted very thoroughly, but up until the last 24 hours they hadn't understood correctly. When she finally got an email back explaining that it was possible although difficult to do, she forwarded the email to Peter and Tony. She read it three times to make sure she had it all right. They would have to go to court, but they had good enough lawyers they could keep it secret. They had done it multiple times without the press finding out, so she didn't have to worry about that. They would have to get copies of the legal documents to change all of Peter's information like his social security number, passport, birth certificate, etc. It sounded like a fairly long process, but it didn't sound difficult. Their lawyers were good and she had no doubt they could get it all done under the radar of the press. As it turned out, they didn't even need someone with Peter's new last name to sign on as a guardian. He could change his last name to 'Safendorp' and he would be fine as long as both Pepper and Tony allowed him (they wouldn't).

When Pepper and Tony both returned from work, they were surprised to discover Peter wasn't in the living room with Ned and Michelle watching TV. They both knew his friends had come over after school and their regular activities usually involved hanging out in the living room ("It's close to the kitchen"). Tony glanced at Pepper who just shrugged. He went down to the lab and Pepper went to check Peter's room. Sure enough, the three of them were hovered around Peter's computer looking at something online. Pepper couldn't see what it was, but it didn't seem like a movie.

"What are you three working on?" she asked. They all jumped and spun around to face her, grinning innocently. That made her suspicious. "Should I be concerned?"

"No," Peter said. He moved aside from the computer and presented her with what looked like a list. "I told them we were gonna change my last name so I could go to school with them and we were looking for good names." Pepper smiled.

"Did you find any?" she asked. Peter nodded.

"We liked Parker," Ned answered. "Peter Parker sounds good."

"It does," Pepper agreed. "Well, if you guys get hungry just let me know. I'm sure we have chips or something somewhere."

"Okay," Peter said. "Bye, Mom!"

"Bye, Aunt Pepper!" Ned said, waving as she walked back down the hall and into the living room.  They went back to their research, but didn't find anything they liked as much as Parker. By the time Michelle and Ned had to leave, they had happily presented the name to both Tony and Pepper. Tony agreed with Pepper, it sounded good. He just wasn't too fond of the idea that it made Peter no longer a Stark.

"We can change it back once he's out of school," Pepper promised. Tony still didn't like it, but he didn't argue any more. Instead, he and Peter went down to the lab to work on some things before dinner.

* * *

Since it was Wednesday night, it was movie night after dinner. Peter washed the dishes while Pepper picked out a movie and Tony wiped down the table. Pepper came into the kitchen to make popcorn then went back into the living room. Tony was the second one to join her and Peter was last. He turned off the kitchen light and dove over the couch. Pepper yelped then scolded him as he lay on the ground, his head bent at a funny angle as he groaned. He had over calculated how fast he needed to dive and ended up hitting the floor with his head. Tony was nearly in tears from laughing so hard when Peter had let out a string of curses. Pepper was now scolding both of them.

"You better not do that again!" Pepper told him. Peter gave an awkward salute from his position on the floor then twisted around so he could sit upright. He climbed on the couch and sat down beside his dad. Once Pepper was sure both Peter and Tony were settled, she hit play on the movie.

"We've seen this movie four times!" Peter complained, grabbing a blanket to bury himself in. Tony rolled his eyes and passed the popcorn bowl to Peter.

"It's a good movie," Pepper said as the Jurassic World theme ended. Peter grumbled about it getting boring and predictable at this point so Tony moved the popcorn bowl.

"Hey!" Peter said. Pepper shushed them, hitting Tony's knee as the movie begun.

"You don't deserve it," Tony whispered. Peter rolled his eyes and reached over his dad to grab more popcorn. The entire movie, Pepper got after them for talking. Peter made a point of quoting as much as he could just to prove it was too predictable. Tony made commentary the entire time. When it was finally over, Pepper gave them both a lecture on being disrespectful whenever it was her turn to pick a movie.

"You chose that one every time," Peter said. Tony agreed and Pepper groaned in frustration.

"If I don't chose that one will you watch it quietly?" she asked. They both promised they would, but she didn't have high hopes. She passed the empty popcorn bowl to Tony and told him to go wash it. He rolled his eyes but kissed her cheek as he got up. She then sent Peter to bed, reminding him that she and Tony wouldn't be home the next two days and that Natasha was going to be staying with him.

"Awesome! Is she bringing Steve and Bucky? Cause then we can have our capture the flag ninja game!" he cheered. Pepper looked confused and concerned, but Peter told her not to worry about it. "It's safe. Natasha's already taught me how to shoot, so it's not like I'll hit something in the house." That did the exact opposite of calm Pepper down.

"Maybe I'll just have Rhodey come over," she said.

"No! I was just kidding about the shooting and the game!" Peter exclaimed. He was lying and they both knew it, but Pepper had already asked Natasha and Rhodey was currently deployed, so they were stuck with what they had.

"Don't get hurt," Pepper told him. Peter grinned.

"I won't!" he promised. He kissed Pepper's cheek. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight," Pepper replied.

"Goodnight!" Tony shrieked, his voice many octaves higher than it normally was.


	3. Chapter 3

Natasha had brought Bucky and Steve over to stay with Peter and her. She had also made sure they all brought their uniforms. They had made it into a regular occurrence whenever Steve or Natasha were asked to watch Peter: the three would come over with their mission uniforms on and Peter would join them as Spider-Man (a superhero he had made up when he was seven) then they would make teams and play a huge game of capture the flag, but fancier. It was such a big deal, Peter had made a special suit just for his superhero Spider-Man. Tony had helped make it so high tech of course, but Peter had designed everything himself; even the web shooters and fluid.

"You ready, Spider-Man?" Natasha asked. It was the same teams every time: Natasha and Peter against Steve and Bucky. The teams were evenly matched and took hours to complete.

"Oh yeah!" Peter said, bouncing on his toes. He was excited. His dad had just upgraded his suit so he could now stick on walks and ceilings like real spiders. It was amazing and he couldn't wait to try it out in a real game.

"The game will begin in two minutes," FRIDAY announced. "Please hide your flags." Natasha had already done that. She spent the next two minutes explains her plan to Peter. By the time FRIDAY told them to begin, Peter was well versed on the plan.

"Go!" Natasha hissed. Peter nodded and climbed up the wall and onto the ceiling. He couldn't keep the grin off his face and he crawled slowly and carefully across the ceiling. He was supposed to locate the flag and tell Natasha where it was. They were both relying on Steve and Bucky not noticing Peter on the ceiling. With Karen's help (the AI Tony had created for Peter's phone and then put in his Spider-Man suit), he was able to know ahead of time when Bucky or Steve were coming.

"Bucky is around the corner," Karen told him. Peter scurried over to the wall and carefully peered around the corner from his position on the ceiling. He was directly above Bucky's head. He stopped breathing as the assassin peered around the corner, obviously having heard something.

"Buck, I think they-" a very high pitched scream came out of Steve's mouth as he noticed Peter on the ceiling. He was further down the hall, so of course he would have spotted Peter hovering above Bucky.

"Karen! You were supposed to tell me when he came!" Peter said. He dropped from the ceiling and Bucky shrieked. Peter couldn't help but start laughing. Two grown adult super-humans screaming at a teen in red spandex.

"Get him!" Steve yelled. Before Peter could stop laughing and run, Bucky had wrapped his arms around Peter and was holding him tightly.

"Ah man," Peter groaned. He let Bucky take him to their jail and slumped against the wall. He did ask Karen to replay the footage of Steve and Bucky screaming, though, and found himself laughing so hard he cried.

"Natasha is on her way," Karen announced.

"O-Okay," Peter stuttered, trying to contain himself. By the time Natasha appeared in the room, he had managed to calm down.

"What happened?" she asked. She picked Peter up and slung him over her shoulder, the only way you were allowed to get someone out of jail.

"Oh do I have something funny to show you," Peter exclaimed.

"Tell me later," she said. Peter nodded and stayed silent as Natasha scurried back to their base and set him down. When someone was rescued from jail, they had to be carried like an injured person and taken all the way back to home base. If they were caught on the way, they were free game and that often meant that team lost. They were only safe and out of jail when they touched the base.

"They know I can be on the ceiling now," Peter told her.

"Figured," Natasha muttered. "Alright, new plan." She describes the new plan to Peter quickly then they broke up. Peter was still going to try and find the flag, but now Natasha was going to try and get either Bucky or Steve in jail. Originally she was supposed to hide and protect the flag which was debatably against the rules.

Peter knew he must have been close to the flag when he had been captured since both Bucky and Steve had been there. He quickly returned to the location and wasn't surprised to find Steve casually standing against a doorframe, shield in hand and eyes on both then floor and ceiling now. Peter stuck his hand around the wall and shot a web at Steve just like Natasha had taught him. His web caught the shield and pulled it back to him. Peter dropped from the ceiling and held up the shield. He grinned as Steve frowned.

"I think sticking to the ceiling should be illegal," he said. Peter shrugged and investigated his prize closer.

"This is cool!" Peter exclaimed. He barely looked up before Steve could hit him. He yelped and threw the shield up to protect himself. Steve's fist bounced off and Peter shot a web at his legs. Steve wobbled a bit but struck Peter again. This time his fist hit Peter's shooting arm and Peter's web missed. Peter frowned and webbed up Steve's arms. Now he looked like a cocooned butterfly. Peter stuck him to the wall twitch a grin and set the shield against his legs. He ran into the room Steve had been standing in front of and began to furiously search for the flag. He found it under a nightstand and tucked it into his suit at the neck. He climbed onto the ceiling and raced out of the room. He passed Bucky and Natasha fighting, but Bucky stopped when he saw Peter with the flag. He jumped up and grabbed Peter's ankle.

"Gotcha!" he yelled. Peter tried to get away from Bucky, but it was no use. He ripped the flag out of his suit and handed it to Natasha.

"Go! Save yourself!" he cried. Natasha grabbed the flag, rolling her eyes, and ran towards their base. Bucky growled and released Peter, running after Natasha. Peter jumped on his back and started belting out "Mary Had A Little Lamb" as loud as he could in Bucky's ear. Bucky tried to get Peter off his back as he ran after Natasha, but he was unsuccessful. Natasha touched her base with the flag and FRIDAY announced team Spider was the winner. Bucky groaned and Peter jumped off his back. He gave Natasha a high five then waved the flag in Bucky's face.

"We won!" he cheered. It had been at least two games since Natasha and Peter had won, so Natasha didn't even bother telling Peter to be a nice winner. Instead, she just smirked as Bucky covered his ears and went to go find out where Steve had been tied up.


	4. Chapter 4

On Saturday morning, Peter woke up to his dad yelling into his room it was time to get up. Peter groaned and rolled over, asking FRIDAY what the time was. It was barely past 7:00. He was being woken up at 7:13 on a Saturday morning. Peter wanted to die. There had better be a good reason he was being woken up so early on the weekend. Then again, he figured there must be since his dad had seemed wide awake and unless something was happening, he always slept until 10:30 at least. That didn't mean Peter wanted to get up, though, and he made a point of being as slow as possible getting ready. He took a long shower, room time getting dressed, then slowly meandered down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Finally!" Pepper exclaimed when she saw Peter. She pointed to a plate of food and he sat down in front of it. "We have to be down at the courthouse in thirty minutes!"

"Wait, what?" Peter asked. He began shoveling food into his mouth and eating quickly. "Why?" Pepper frowned at him for talking with his mouth full and he felt his face heat up.

"The lawyer called this morning at 6:30 saying they could get us in at 8:30 and get your name changed and all that," Pepper said. Peter's eyes widened. They were doing it today? "We're leaving in fifteen minutes so hurry up."

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Pepper was hurrying Peter and Tony into the elevator and down to the garage. Both had suits on and Pepper was wearing a dress. Even though it was a private hearing, Pepper still insisted they look nice. She even promised they could go out to eat if both Peter and Tony behaved the entire time. Thankfully the courthouse was close enough to the Tower they were five minutes early even after Tony forgot his phone and had to run up to grab it. They managed to get into the courthouse without being spotted and met with their lawyer inside.

"It should be fairly quick," Heinrich Foss said. Pepper nodded, walking beside him. He explained the process to her while Tony and Peter muttered to each other behind them.

Once they arrived inside the hearing room, Peter sat down between Pepper and Tony. The room was empty except for the judge, Heinrich, the state attorney, and the man taking down notes. Heinrich went through the process as though it was a regularly occurrence. Peter tried to pay attention, but it wasn't that interesting to listen to. It took almost two hours before the state attorney was done asking questions. Of course, no objections occurred and the judge granted the name change. Peter waited excitedly for them to give Pepper the certificate then happily followed them back out to their car.

"Now we just have to get it changed on everything else," Pepper said.

"And register me for school!" Peter added. Pepper nodded.

"And register you for school," she confirmed.

Just as she promised, Pepper let Tony and Peter get pizza from Dominoes. They changed out of their suits once they got home before they could eat the pizza, though. Once they were back in comfy clothes, Peter and Tony raced each other to the two pizza boxes. Pepper just rolled her eyes and grabbed leftover spaghetti from a few days before. Peter and Tony took both pizza boxes down to the lab with them after making sure Pepper wouldn't want any. They were going to working on upgrading the Iron Man suit and Peter really wanted to show him the footage of Steve and Bucky screaming from the capture the flag game.

"That's great," Tony said, wiping a tear from his eye as he laughed. Karen replayed it and he started laughing again. "Oh man, FRIDAY, please save this."

"On it, sir," FRIDAY replied. After the third replay, Tony had to forcefully shut it off so he could recover. Peter's stomach ached from laughing so much, so he sat down on the floor and laid on his back.

"The things that go on in this house when I'm not here," Tony sighed, finally able to catch his breath. Peter grinned and sat back up. "Now, we really do need to upgrade my suit."

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "It's pretty ancient." Tony rolled his eyes and stood up from his desk. He had FRIDAY bring up his latest suit and run scans on it for ways he could improve it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's short, but I didn't want to drag it on uselessly. I hope you liked it, though.


	5. Chapter 5

It was the Sunday before his first day of school. Peter was bubbling with excitement. All summer long they had been working on changing his legal name on all his documents from Peter Stark to Peter Parker. They had just barely registered him at school before a waitlist began. Peter had been bouncing the entire time and hadn't calmed down since Friday. Ned and Michelle had spent the weekend at Stark Tower, running Peter through things like how to not look like a loser (Michelle), how to avoid bullies (Ned), and which clubs were the best to join (Ned said Lego; Michelle said Literature). Overall, his two friends drowned him in information about what to expect and Peter was loving it.

"Come on, Peter!" Ned called, running towards the store. Although it was a little late, Pepper was finally taking Peter shopping for school supplies. Tony would have come, but his presence would have drawn attention and that was exactly what they wanted to avoid.

"We're coming," Peter replied, hurrying after his cousin. Pepper and Michelle followed at a much slower pace, Michelle with her nose in a book and Pepper fumbling with her purse. By the time they entered the store, Peter and Ned had grabbed a shopping cart an were waiting impatiently.

"Alright, let's go," Pepper said. She put her purse in the child's seat and followed the boys to the school supplies section. Michelle followed, still reading her book and still further behind. "You boys find what you can here then we'll look somewhere else for the rest." Peter and Ned nodded before shooting off down the aisles. Pepper parked the cart out of the way and she and Michelle stood by it. Peter and Ned grabbed stuff and dropped it in the cart, racing back and forth until they had finally found everything they could.

"I need a backpack too, Mom," Peter reminded her. She nodded and walked to the cash register.

"We can go look somewhere else for that," she promised. Peter nodded and helped load things onto the belt. Pepper paid for all the supplies then followed the boys out to the car. When they got there, Pepper had Peter and Ned put the bags in the trunk. She looked around for Michelle but didn't see her. "Where's MJ?" she asked the boys. They grabbed the last few bags then looked around the parking lot.

"Wasn't she with you?" Peter asked. Pepper began to panic as she looked around the parking lot again. "Don't worry. I'll run inside and see where we left her." Peter put the two bags he was holding in the trunk then ran back inside. Michelle was sitting on a bench, deep in her book. She only looked up when Peter tapped on it.

"What?" she asked.

"We're leaving," he told her. She nodded and stood up, walking with him out to the car. Pepper sighed in relief when she saw them both returning then issuers them into the car.

"We have a backpack to find," she told them.

* * *

Michelle and Ned had to go home after dinner. Pepper promised to pick them both up the next day, though, so the three friends could go to school together. They waved goodbye to Peter as they got in the elevator and Peter waved back until the doors shut. Once his friends were gone, he raced around to make sure all his school supplies were in his backpack so he wouldn't forget any. He then went into his bedroom to find the perfect outfit for his first day. That's how Tony found him two hours later: holding up shirts in the mirror then tossing them back only to pick them back up five minutes later.

"You excited, Peter?" Tony asked. Peter dropped the shirt he was holding up and turned to face his dad. He nodded excitedly and Tony walked into the room to sit on his bed.

"I know you don't want me to go," Peter said. He tossed some shirts out of his way and joined Tony on his bed. "Thank you for letting me go, though. I promise I won't make you regret it." Tony chuckled and looked down at his hands that were folded in his lap.

"No, Peter, you'll have a wonderful time," he said. He glanced up at his son briefly before continuing. "I think the main reason I didn't want you to go was because it would mean you're all grown up. You're gonna do real well, Peter, and I don't want to be the reason you're held back."

"You aren't! If anything, you help me," Peter rushed to assure him. Tony smiled and nodded, still not looking up at Peter.

"I want you to know I'm proud of you, kiddo," he said. He turned to look up at Peter. "I hope you enjoy school, but try not to let the other kids ruin your relationship with Ned and Michelle. Other kids will probably try and make you ditch your friends, but don't do it. You'll just regret it." Peter nodded, soaking in every word his dad was saying. "You'll also learn that other kids don't find it "cool" or whatever to tell your parents everything or be friends with them, but don't cut out me and Mom."

"I won't!" Peter immediately objected, looking horrified at the idea. "I love you guys and nothing is gonna change that."

"I'm gonna hold you to that, Pete," Tony said. Peter nodded and before Tony could say anything else, Peter launched himself at his dad and hugged him tightly. Tony wrapped his arms around Peter's shoulders and kissed the top of his head.

"If I try and get rid of you and Mom, make sure you go all Iron Man on me," Peter said, voice muffled by Tony's chest. Tony chuckled and nodded.

"Don't worry," he said. "I will."


	6. Chapter 6

Peter was up bright and early the next day. Pepper had just started on breakfast when Peter came bounding into the kitchen wearing a new shirt and jeans. His hair was curly, but Pepper could tell he had tried to make it lie flat. She smiled at him and he grinned back. Tony followed him, less energetic, and went straight to the coffee machine. He poured himself a cup of black coffee and downed it in minutes.

"Does this look good, Mom?" Peter asked. He turned around so Pepper could see his full outfit then looked at her in anticipation.

"I think it looks great," Pepper replied. Tony grunted then nodded at her.

"Good answer," he told her. "This kid woke me up two minutes after you left so I could help him pick out an outfit." Pepper rolled her eyes with a grin and Peter felt his face warm up.

"Well, the hash browns will be done in a few minutes," Pepper said. Peter nodded and began setting the table while Tony grabbed the orange juice and ketchup from the fridge. He pulled the syrup from the cupboard and handed it all to Peter to put on the table. Once the hash browned were done, they all sat down and ate. After eating, there was nothing to delay Peter from going to school.

"Can we go now?" Peter asked, shutting the dishwasher and starting it. "I want to get there early so I can find out where all my classes are."

"We'll leave in fifteen minutes, Peter," Tony said. Peter nodded and ran to go brushed his teeth. He messed with his hair a little more but wasn't able to fix it. He shrugged and grabbed his backpack from his desk. He pulled it up on his shoulders and grinned. He grabbed his phone and walked back out to the living room.

"Has it been fifteen minutes yet?" he asked. Pepper shook her head and Tony glanced at his watch.

"It's been ten," he said.

"Well we need to get to the car if we're gonna be on time," Peter exclaimed. He grabbed his dad's hand and then his mom's and pulled them towards the elevator.

"Hold up, Peter," Tony said. Peter stopped and they both put on their shoes. Peter's eyes widened and he grabbed a pair of shoes too. He had forgotten about shoes. Tony smirked as he watched Peter hastily tie his black converse then jump up. "Alright. Now we can go."

"Yes!" Peter cheered. He ran into the elevator with Tony and Pepper behind him. They rode down to the garage and got in a suburban. Tony had gotten one just for getting Peter from school so people wouldn't be drawn by a fancy car and he could take Peter's friends as well. Peter climbed in the middle seats while Pepper got in the passenger seat and Tony drove. Their first stop was Ned's house.

"Peter!" Ned yelled. He ran down his driveway and jumped in the same row as Peter. He shut his door and Tony headed off to Michelle's house. "Are you excited?" Peter nodded excitedly.

"He hasn't stopped bouncing all morning," Pepper told her nephew. Peter smiled, embarrassed and quietly whined 'mom'.

"He was up real early too," Tony said. Peter felt his face heat up even more and Ned just grinned. They arrived at Michelle's house a few minutes later and Pepper sent Peter and Ned to the very back. They groaned but climbed back anyway and continued their conversation.

"What's up, losers?" Michelle greeted. She buckled her seatbelt and Tony pulled onto the freeway.

"Hey, MJ," both Ned and Peter said. She pulled a book from her bag and promptly began to read while Peter and Ned talked about the latest Star Wars movie.

"You can come after school on Friday, right?" Peter asked Ned. He nodded. They were planning to go see it in the theatre the day it came out and they were both very excited.

"We're here!" Tony announced. He parked at the far end of the parking lot where people couldn't see them easily and stopped the car. Michelle climbed out first then Ned who was followed by Peter. Peter pulled his backpack over his shoulder and turned to face his dad and mom. They had both gotten out to say goodbye. Michelle headed towards the school and Ned wandered off a bit to give them privacy.

"Have a good day, Peter," Pepper said. Peter nodded excitedly then glanced back at the large school building. He gulped and turned back to Pepper, looking more nervous than excited now. "You'll be fine," Pepper promised. She hugged Peter tightly, rubbing his back and kissing his forehead.

"Yeah," Peter said, nodding to himself. Pepper let him go to hug Tony and he embraced his dad even tighter.

"You'll do good, kiddo," Tony said. Peter was hesitant to let go of his dad and Tony noticed. He hugged Peter even tighter and kissed his head. "If you need anything, just call us and we'll help you out. Don't be scared. Ned's in every one of your classes and will make sure you don't get lost."

"What if they don't like me?" Peter asked, pulling back just enough to look up at Tony.

"They'll love you," Tony assured him. "And if they don't, then they're not worthy of your concern."

"Okay," Peter said. He hugged Tony again, short and tight, then let go of him completely. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Peter," Pepper said. He nodded and glanced back at Ned who smiled and waved. Peter waved back and started off in Ned's direction. He stopped shortly, though, and ran back to hug his parents one last time.

"Thanks for being so awesome," Peter said. Tony and Pepper both kissed him again and he ran off to walk into school with Ned. Pepper and Tony watched until he was safely inside and out of sight. Tony sighed and Pepper grabbed his hand.

"He'll be fine," Pepper said softly, rubbing his arm. Tony nodded and she kissed his cheek. He finally took his eyes off the school doors and turned to her.

"I think I want to stay with him," Tony said. Pepper gave him a look, but she could see the tears forming in his eyes and he worriedly glanced back at the school. "Just in case, you know?" Pepper nodded.

"Are you going to at least take me back or should I call Happy?" Pepper asked. Tony seemed torn for a moment, then said he would take her back. It would only take half an hour or so. Nothing would happen to Peter in that amount of time. Tony got back in the car and Pepper climbed in the passenger seat. She held Tony's hand all the way back to the Tower and kissed his quickly before climbing out and hurrying inside.


	7. Chapter 7

Peter was terrified. He followed Ned through the halls, clutching his new textbooks to his chest. They had picked them up at the front doors and given their locker number and code. Peter's locker was right next to Ned's-thank goodness-and across the hall from Michelle's. He was now following Ned numbly down the halls, trying not to get in anyone's way so they couldn't get upset with him. When Ned stopped in front of a locker and started twisting his lock, Peter turned to the one in front of him and did the same. His code didn't work, though, and so he tried again. It still didn't work. He was about to try again when someone slammed their hand against the locker right above Peter's head. He jumped and spun around to face the person.

"This is my locker, kid," an older boy said. Peter gulped and nodded quickly. He bumped into Ned in his hurry to move and quickly apologised to both people. The older boy rolled his eyes and quickly spun the code on his locker. The door flew open and Peter felt like crying.

"Hey, man," Ned said. He pointed to the locker on the other side of his. "This one's yours." Peter nodded and shakily spun his code. His locker opened and he quickly shoved his books in. "You'll need your Algebra book first period and you should probably keep English, too." Peter nodded and grabbed those two books again. He shut his locker and turned to Ned. "Let's go find homeroom," Ned said. Peter nodded and silently followed Ned down the halls, avoiding eye contact and trying not to bump into anyone.

"Hey, losers," Michelle said, walking beside Peter. She frowned when she noticed how nervous Peter looked. "You good?" she asked, elbowing him gently. Peter nodded quickly, but Michelle didn't believe him. She glanced at Ned who was on his other side.

"He had a run in with Steven," Ned explained. Michelle nodded in understanding then looked back at Peter.

"Just ignore him," she told him. "He's just an annoying jock who flunked last year and has to retake senior year."

"I'm not sure I want to do this, guys," Peter said, stopping in the doorway of homeroom. Michelle rolled her eyes and pushed Peter into the room. He stumbled in and awkwardly made his way towards the back of the room. Another kid scoffed at his stumble and Michelle glared at him hard enough to shut him up.

"Don't mind Flash, either," Michelle instructed, taking the seat behind Peter. "He's all bark and no bite. Weak and just a wannabe jock."

"Who's your boyfriend?" Flash called across the room at Michelle. She just rolled her eyes and opened a book. "Fred, how was summer? Did you donate fat to those in need? It doesn't look like it." Ned looked down at his desk but said nothing. "Might want to work on your charity donations." Flash smirked but didn't say anything else. Peter looked back at Ned who just shrugged.

"Does he bully you?" Peter asked. Ned shrugged then nodded.

"It's alright, though," Ned assured him. "I don't mind." Peter rolled his eyes.

"Well I mind!" he exclaimed. He turned back around to face Flash with a brave look. Flash raised his eyebrows at Peter, but Peter's resolve didn't break. "Hey, that's my cousin you're talking to. Be nice."

"What are you? Home schooled kid that's never been to school before?" Flash scoffed. Peter couldn't think of anything to say back quick enough and Flash grinned. "You are. Fresh meat."

"I'm not fresh meat and neither is Ned!" Peter said boldly. "Leave him alone or-"

"Or what? You'll sick you daddy on me?" Flash teased. Peter fumed. "What's your name, new guy?"

"Peter S-Parker," Peter said, barely correcting himself in time.

"Well Penis Sparker, I suggest you shut your mouth before I hurt you," Flash said. Before Peter could correct him on his name and give Flash a piece of his mind, the bell rang. Peter jumped, not having expected that and Flash laughed loudly. Peter turned away from Flash and turned to face Ned, his face bright red. Ned looked embarrassed for him.

"Sorry, man," Ned said. Peter looked confused as to why Ned was apologising, so he explained. "Flash isn't gonna leave you alone now."

"It's worth it," Peter shrugged. "Just as long as he leaves you alone." Ned sighed and gave him a hopeless smile. They both turned forward in their seats when the teacher called for their attention and began calling roll. Peter almost didn't respond when she called his name, not remembering he was Peter Parker and not Peter Stark now. When he did call out 'here', he interrupted the teacher and pushed his desk forward on accident. Some kids snickered and Peter felt his face heat up. They all turned around abruptly, looking nervous and Peter wondered why. When he turned around, he saw Michelle glaring something that could rival his mom's glare at each kid that had laughed at Peter. He smiled to himself, glad to know Michelle had his back. He muttered a thank you to Michelle and she just waved him off, opening her book back up and ignoring the teacher.

Peter listened intently as their homeroom teacher, Mr. Hanley explained how the year was going to go. The other kids seemed to tune him out, but Peter hung on every word. He wanted to know just what to expect and wrote down tips Mr. Hanley gave out. He was a small, frail old man that was shorter than Peter, but Peter gave him all his respect. He knew that just because someone was small didn't mean they didn't have good things to say. By the time the bell rang, he had a half page of tips. Ned gave him a look that made him think he had done something wrong, but he just shrugged and shoved his notes in his backpack. Ned was sure to be coming to him for Mr. Hanley's tips once he realised how cool Peter was, knowing how everything worked and just what to expect. Unfortunately, that's not quite what happened.


	8. Chapter 8

Peter was racing out of school the minute the bell rang. He didn't even wait for Ned or Michelle before running to the suburban on the other side of the parking lot. He saw his dad fast asleep in the driver's seat and climbed in the passenger seat. Tony jumped awake at the sound of Peter opening the door and grinned. Ned and Michelle were coming at a much slower pace, but Tony started the car anyway. Peter would have told his dad how much his first day had sucked and just why he was wearing a new shirt, but Tony seemed too excited. Instead, Peter made up stories about how he had made a bunch of new friends (more like new bullies), how his teachers were so awesome (some were; others weren't), and how lunch was fun because they could just hang out and talk for an hour (or get spaghetti dumped down your shirt). Tony seemed to buy all the stories, though, and was grinning widely by the time Michelle and Ned arrived.

"I'm so glad you had a wonderful day," he said. Peter smiled and nodded as his two friends climbed in the back seat. "Does anyone besides me want pizza? I could go for some pizza." Tony didn't need an answer, he already knew the answer was yes. He pulled out of the school parking lot and drove to the nearest pizza parlour. Of course, he couldn't go in without drawing attention, so he sent Peter in with his credit card to get a pizza to go. Ten minutes later, the three friends were running back to the car with two huge pizza boxes.

"Can we eat it now?" Peter asked. Tony shook his head.

"I don't need my newest car covered in crumbs," Tony said. "We'll be at the Tower in a few minutes. Just wait." They did and by the time they got up to the penthouse, the pizza was at a perfect temperature. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't cold. All four of them crowded the counter and ate the pizza as soon as they could. "Do you guys have homework?" Tony asked, wiping off his hands and grabbing a glass of water.

"No, first day of school," Peter said. "No homework."

"Alright," Tony replied. He emptied his water glass then set it by the sink. "I'm going down to work in the lab. Mom should be up soon."

"Okay," Peter said. Peter, Michelle, and Ned finished the last box of pizza before going into Peter's room. Michelle immediately claimed the chair in the corner (Peter had put it there just for her years ago once the two had become friends) while Ned and Peter jumped onto Peter's bed.

"Did you see the new Star Wars Lego set coming out?" Ned asked. Peter nodded. They talked about Lego's and Star Wars until Pepper called them out.

"Michelle, your parents said they want you home for dinner," Pepper said. Michelle nodded and grabbed her stuff. "Ned, you too."

"Alright," he said. He grabbed his backpack and got in the elevator with Michelle. "See you later, Peter!"

"Bye, guys!" Peter waved. Michelle raised one hand from her book and waved before the elevator doors shut. Once they had closed, Peter climbed onto a stool at the counter to talk to his mom.

"So, how was school?" she asked. Peter told her the same lies he told Tony, giving her a believable smile at the end. "I'm glad. And no one knows you're a Stark?"

"Nope, I can promise you that much," Peter said. If anyone knew he was a Stark, the word would get around quick. Besides, he wouldn't be bullied if people knew he was a Stark.

"Peter, I know school isn't always the best and I won't force you to leave if you want to stay, but was it really that good?" Pepper asked. Peter nodded hastily.

"Of course it was great," Peter told her. "What makes you think it wasn't?" Pepper gave him a look.

"Peter, you're not wearing the shirt you wore to school," she said. Peter frowned and looked down, realising he was still in the shirt he had been found in last year's lost and found box after having spaghetti dumped on him.

"Oh, I changed when I got home," Peter lied. Pepper still looked unbelieving, but she dropped the subject as Tony walked upstairs.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," Pepper told him. He nodded and wiped his forehead, getting grease on his head. "Go take a shower."

"What? I'm perfect," Tony told her, walking into the kitchen. She tried pushing him out, but he just grabbed her waist and hugged her. Pepper squealed and pushed his face away from hers as he backed her against the counter.

"You stink," she laughed. Tony snuggled closer to her.

"You usually like that," he said. He was about to kiss her but Peter yelled, drawing their attention to him.

"You're both nasty!" he yelled, covering his eyes and plugging one ear. Pepper and Tony laughed. Tony kissed her quickly and let her go. "Is it safe? My poor innocent ears and eyes don't want that!"

"It's safe, Peter," Pepper promised. Peter hesitantly dropped his hands and looked at his parents.  Tony walked towards their bedroom to take a shower while Pepper pulled out a recipe book.

"Can I help?" Peter asked eagerly. He loved helping in the kitchen and cooking. Pepper nodded and told Peter what ingredients to grab. Peter combined and stirred everything for the lasagna together while Pepper made the garlic bread.

"I smell garlic bread!" Tony yelled, returning to the kitchen freshly showered. Pepper pulled the garlic bread from the oven and put it in the warmer while the lasagna continued to cook.

"Twelve more minutes," Pepper told him. Tony tried distracting her to get to the garlic bread, but Pepper wasn't easily distracted and Peter was also guarding it.

"Go set the table, Dad," Peter said. "It will make things go faster." Tony rolled his eyes but set the table anyway. Twelve minutes later, the oven beeped and Peter pulled the lasagna out. He set it on the table and grabbed something to serve it with. Pepper put the garlic bread on the table as well and they all sat down. The fight over garlic bread was short lived when Pepper said she would take it all away if they couldn't share, so Peter and Tony made up and split the bread evenly.

"When are the Avengers coming over again?" Peter asked before taking a large bite of lasagna.

"Well, Steve and Natasha are getting back from a mission next Tuesday so maybe next Wednesday we could have everyone over," Tony said. It had been a while since Peter had seen all his uncles and aunt. Wanda was more of a cousin since she was closer to his age.

"That reminds me," Pepper said, wiping her mouth. "Bruce called. He wants to come over tomorrow and work with you in the lab. Both of you."

"Really?" Peter asked. He was usually told to steer clear of the lab when Bruce and Tony worked together.

"Really," Pepper answered. She pointed her fork at him as she said, "So make sure you're out of school on time." Peter saluted her and happily went back to eating his dinner.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day at school was almost as bad as the first. Peter didn't accidentally try and open Steven's locker, so he had that going for him. However, Ned had a dental appointment during the last two periods of the day and Michelle didn't have those classes with him, so Peter was left alone for both Biology and PE. Biology wasn't that bad as they just took notes on Mrs. Castrejon's teaching, but PE was awful. Peter had never been fond of running anyway, so when they were told to run three laps around the track field he wanted to die. It was his last period of the day and Uncle Bruce was coming over, though, so Peter forced himself to run the three laps.

"Glad you could join us, Parker," the coach said once Peter finished his laps. He had been dead last and was panting hard. He had never been more upset at the sun for showing up in his life. Especially when Coach Redding announced they were playing soccer. Peter groaned and stood in line with the rest of his classmates. He was chosen second to last which wasn't much better than being last and ended up playing a defender. It was alright until Flash came running towards him, kicking the ball straight at him. Peter's eyes widened and he ducked out of the way as the ball sailed over his head.

"You're supposed to stop it, brilliant!" one of his teammates, Joseph, yelled. Peter sighed and looked up to see Flash mocking him. Coach Redding blew his whistle and everyone returned to their sides. The game began again and Peter tried to stay out of the way. However, he was sure Flash was trying to embarrass him. He found himself facing Flash again and this time he didn't duck when Flash kicked the ball. It hit his forehead right above his left eye and he fell backwards. The ball bounced off him and the others kept playing, but Peter couldn't see straight. He sat up on the ground and touched his head. He could feel a large bump forming on his head and he frowned. The coach blew his whistle and made his way over to Peter.

"Aw, come on coach," Joseph said. "Peter's fine." Coach Redding squatted down in front of Peter and asked if he could see straight.

"Kind of," Peter said. His head hurt and he was pretty sure Coach Redding's face shouldn't be as blurry as it was. "You're a little blurry."

"Alright, go find the nurse," Coach Redding said. He pointed out another student and told her to go with Peter to the nurse. The girl looked upset but did as was told. Peter followed her back into the building and down the halls to the nurses station. As soon as the girl pointed to the door, she turned and ran back inside. By now, Peter could see straight. He knocked on the door then walked in. An older looking woman came out of an office and smiled.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Peter told her how he had been hit by a ball and that he'd had a hard time seeing correctly for a while. She checked his pupils and ran a few more basic tests, but she didn't think he had a concussion. She found an ice pack and told Peter to lay down with it to his head until school got out. He did as was told and waited for the bell to ring. As soon as it did, he thanked the nurse and went to get his stuff from the gym. He changed out of his gym clothes then walked out to the parking lot and looked around for the suburban. He didn't see it and frowned.

"Peter!" a voice called. He looked around and saw Bruce waving from a small Honda Accord. Peter grinned and ran over to him.

"Uncle Bruce!" he exclaimed. He hurriedly climbed in the passenger seat and buckled in.

"Whoa, what happened to your head?" Bruce asked, looking at the large goose egg on his forehead. Peter gingerly touched his head and smiled shyly.

"Soccer," he said. "Apparently when you hit the ball with your head on accident, it hurts." Bruce laughed and pulled out of the parking lot.

"How are you liking school so far?" Bruce asked. Peter shrugged.

"Ned was gone for part of the day so it wasn't great the last two periods," Peter said. He told Bruce all about Biology, knowing how much his uncle loved science. He never actually answered Bruce's question, but Bruce didn't seem to notice. "Are you staying for dinner?" Peter asked as they pulled up to the Tower.

"Yeah," Bruce answered. They climbed out and walked into the Tower. Peter scanned his key card and they got on the Stark's residence private elevator. "Apparently I'm also coming back next week with the rest of the team."

"Yeah!" Peter said. They got out at the penthouse and Peter set down his backpack before they hurried downstairs to the lab. Tony was busy welding when they entered and Bruce pulled Peter over to his desk to show him what he had been working on.

"It's an generator that pulls energy from algae*," Bruce said. He briefly explained how it was supposed to work and how far he had gotten. "I'm trying to figure out a few things before it will actually work, but once I get that figured out, this should be a strong energy producer."

"That's so cool!" Peter said, staring at the computer model with wide eyes. Bruce grinned and walked over to a small replica of the generator he had built. Peter listened closely as Bruce showed him all the different parts then showed him his small algae farm that he was using to study. "Have you published anything yet?" Peter asked. Bruce shook his head.

"Not in any official report," he said. "I will once I get further, but I want to make a bit more progress."

"Is Bruce showing you his special slime?" Tony asked, leaving his welding to join Peter and Bruce. Bruce rolled his eyes but smiled.

"It's so cool, Dad!" Peter exclaimed. Bruce grinned as he put his model back.

"Well, while you two were looking at fancy slime, I added wings to my Iron Man suit," Tony said. Peter scrunched up his face in confusion.

"But you can already fly," he reminded him. Tony rolled his eyes.

"It's more for looks than practicality," Tony replied. He turned to go back to his suit and Bruce leaned over towards Peter.

"Isn't everything with him?" he asked. Tony didn't even glance back as he flipped Bruce off, causing both Peter and Bruce to burst into laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * So the algae into energy idea is an actually thing Exxon Mobil is looking into. Here's the link if you're interested:   
> http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en/research-and-technology/advanced-biofuels/advanced-biofuels-and-algae-research?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=XOM+%7C+Corp+%7C+ELH+%7C+Traffic+%7C+Brand+%7C+Innovation+%7C+Algae+%7C+Phrase&utm_content=Brand+%7C+Algae+%7C+Core+%7C+Exxon+Mobil&utm_term=exxon+mobil+algae&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0vq82e_02wIVTL7ACh1NJgGdEAAYASAAEgIsQ_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


	10. Chapter 10

Peter felt like he had done a good job the past week and a half of hiding the fact that he was a Stark. Thankfully no one had recognised Bruce when he picked up Peter and Happy, Pepper, and Tony were all really good about parking on the far end of the parking lot when they came to pick Peter up. He had managed to cover up for himself when he accidentally revealed Bruce's latest project in class when Mrs. Castrejon asked if anyone knew of any way scientists were using algae and fungi besides using them for food. Peter had managed to say he saw it in a science journal that Bruce was working on something, but people had given him strange looks. Other than that, he had done a good job ignoring the bullying and pretending he wasn't a Stark.

"Are we still on for tonight after school?" Ned asked during lunch. The two of them had made plans to go to Ned's house and work on putting together his newest Lego set. Peter was about to say yes, but he remembered the team was coming over for dinner.

"Sorry, Ned," Peter said. Ned's face dropped. "I completely forgot that the team was coming over for dinner." Flash scoffed from a table nearby and Ned and Peter looked up.

"The team? What, is there a whole group of you that get together during the week and talk about Lego's?" Flash teased. Peter rolled his eyes and turned back to Ned. "Don't roll your eyes at me, Penis Parker."

"Leave us alone, Flash," Peter snapped. Sure it had only been a week and a half of the endless bullying, but Peter had his mother's temper. That is to say, he had one and it was bad.

"Don't talk to me like that," Flash said. "You're not better than me." Ned grabbed Peter's arm to keep him from jumping to his feet and punching Flash.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Peter told him. Flash frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"Then please, enlighten me," Flash said. Peter would have, honestly, he was about to. However, the bell rang and they had to go to their next class. Flash glared at Peter as they got up. "You better watch your back, Parker," Flash warned. Peter rolled his eyes and the only thing that stopped Flash from punching Peter was Michelle who pulled him out of Flash's reach. Peter shrugged her off and Michelle gave him an irritated look.

"If you have a death wish, push his buttons again," she said. Peter sighed and grabbed his textbooks from his locker.

"If he knew who I was he wouldn't bully me," Peter said. Michelle shrugged.

"He would also try and be your friend just for money," she said. "But if you want to tell him, knock yourself out." She stalked off to her next class and Peter stood there confused. Ned tugged on his arm and they headed off to their next class.

* * *

If Peter had been wanting about keeping his identity a secret from Flash, he was going to have to come up with a very good excuse as to why Black Widow and Captain America had just appeared and helped him out. After school, Peter had gone to the library to pick up some books. He had spent about ten minutes in there before leaving. On his way out of the school, Flash had pulled Peter into an empty classroom and proceeded to beat him up. At first it had just consisted of insults while Flash's friends held him back. After about ten minutes, though, Flash got riled up and started punching Peter. Peter thought he could hide it at first; Flash was just kicking his legs and stomach. Then he felt Flash's fist connect with his jaw and he knew if his face bruised he would have to explain. What he hadn't counted on was Natasha and Steve being the ones to pick him up.

Natasha and Steve had pulled into the school parking lot right on time. They had waited for twenty five minutes before going to investigate. The school was pretty much empty anyway, so they didn't bother worrying about revealing Peter's identity. They had no success in finding him until they heard someone cry out from a nearby classroom. Natasha gave Steve a look and they peered inside. Peter was being held up by two kids while another one punched him in the face. Steve had no hope in keeping Natasha calm and just followed her into the room silently.

"I'm sorry, are we interrupting something?" Natasha asked dangerously. Flash stopped abruptly and turned to see who had entered. When he saw the Black Widow standing in front of Captain America, he almost peed his pants.

"We're just practicing for a skit," Flash stuttered. His friends let go of Peter and he dropped to the floor.

"Bullshit!" Natasha yelled. She was about to launch herself at Flash when Steve grabbed her and lifted her off the ground. She yelled Russian curses at the boys who were all but shaking in fear.

"Get out now," Steve told them, struggling to keep Natasha back. The boys ran out of the room and Natasha yelled down the hall after them. Once they were gone, Peter broke down and started crying. Natasha stopped her angry cursing and knelt down beside Peter. He looked up at her, his face wet with tears.

"Oh Peter," she said softly. She carefully checked his face. He had split skin on his forehead but other than that, there was no blood. He was trembling as she pulled him close for a hug. Steve shut the classroom door and knelt down beside them, rubbing Peter's back soothingly.

"How long have they been bothering you?" Steve asked. Peter shook as another sob racked his body and Natasha held him tighter. "Ever since the first day?" Peter nodded and hugged Natasha tighter. Steve sighed and they sat quietly until Peter had calmed down. When he pulled away from Natasha, he wiped his face and sniffled.

"Please don't tell my parents," he whimpered. Natasha looked like she was about to object. "They'll make me go back to homeschooling and I like school. I can ignore them. It'll be fine."

"Peter, what we saw was not fine," Steve said. Peter sniffled again and another tear trickled down his face. He wiped it away quickly.

"Please," Peter asked quietly, his voice breaking halfway through the word. Steve sighed.

"If you promise to tell us whenever he bullies you or does something like that again, we won't tell your parents," Steve said. Peter seemed hesitant, but nodded nonetheless. "Deal?" Steve held out his hand and Peter weakly shook it.

"Deal," he said quietly. Natasha helped him to his feet and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Peter wrapped an arm around her waist and tucked himself as close to her as possible. They didn't run into anyone on their way out which was good because Peter didn't want to make up a lie about why the Black Widow and Captain America were walking him out to the car. They ended up stopping for drive through ice cream on the way and by the time they arrived at the Tower, Peter's face was no longer tear streaked. The only issue was he had visible bruises and a cut on his forehead.


	11. Chapter 11

"What happened to you?" Clint asked the moment he saw Peter. Peter didn't have a ready made excuse, but apparently Natasha did.

"Ned accidentally slammed his locker into his face," she said. Clint chuckled. "Then he got hit in the face with a soccer ball. Again."

"Tough luck, kid," Clint said. Peter nodded and gave him a small smile. He spotted Wanda and Vision in the living room and lit up.

"Wanda!" he yelled, running over to them. Wanda grinned and hugged Peter. The two were close so it wasn't a surprise he was so excited to see her. Natasha wandered off to her room before Clint could ask anymore questions. Steve nodded at him then went to find Sam and Bucky.

When Tony came up from his lab and saw Peter's busted face, he was less than thrilled. Unlike Clint, he didn't believe what Natasha said and pushed for answers. Natasha quickly got tired of it and told him to shut up, she had it handled. Tony stayed quiet but it was obvious he wasn't happy someone was keeping something about his kid from him. Peter just shrugged and said Natasha was telling the truth. Of course, Tony still didn't entirely believe them but he figured if Steve wasn't telling him, then Natasha must really have it handled. Besides, if anything had happened to Peter, Tony had no doubt Natasha would mess them up.

"Let's just eat dinner," Steve suggested. Everyone swarmed the table as soon as he took the bags off the Chinese takeout. Pepper was gone on a business trip which meant Tony was in charge of food. That translated to mean Steve was in charge of food and that meant Chinese takeout.

"Who has the noodles?" Peter asked. He saw Sam look up guiltily then try to sneak off, but Peter caught him and managed to grab some noodles. Everyone fought over the fortune cookies and somehow Natasha ended up with two. After serving themselves, everyone went to the living room to sit down and eat.

"So Peter, how's high school?" Clint asked. He took a bite of his teriyaki chicken. "Is it great?" Steve gave him a look for speaking with his mouth full but Clint either didn't notice or didn't care.

"It's great!" Peter said. He glanced at Natasha who was busy with her noodles while Steve took a drink of water and turned to Sam. Peter told them how he had every class with Peter and how they were going on their first field trip in a week.

"Where are you going?" Wanda asked. She was immediately distracted by something Vision said telepathically and turned to help him. She still looked up for Peter's answer, though, and accidentally dumped teriyaki chicken into her lap. She cursed in Sokovian and Natasha's eyes widened.

"I don't actually know," Peter shrugged. "They're telling us on Monday."

"I hope it's fun," Wanda said. She sent Vision to get a napkin and continued to curse in her mother tongue, quieter so Natasha didn't grimace every time.

"It should be," Peter said. He took a bite of noodles then continued speaking. "It's in essential life skills, ELS, and we're currently learning about getting jobs and working. Apparently we're going to be going to a different type of work place every day next week."

"Sounds cool," Clint said. Peter nodded.

"And all of our other classes are excused so it means no homework," Peter grinned. Clint chuckled and returned to his food. They finished dinner an hour later, everyone talking happily among themselves. Peter offered to clean up and Wanda went to help him. Natasha joined them and so it was the three of them in the kitchen while the boys all stayed in the living room and talked.

"Peter, come with me," Wanda said once they had finished. Peter looked at her suspiciously but followed her nonetheless. She hurried down the hall and walked into Peter's bedroom. He would have asked why they were going to his bedroom, but she shushed him.

"Wanda, just tell me what you're doing," he whispered. Wanda nodded and walked over to a backpack Peter was certain didn't belong to him. He frowned and watched her pick it up. She plopped down on his bed with it in her lap and pulled out an air horn, a megaphone, and a siren light. She grinned widely up at him and it only took Peter a couple seconds to figure out what was going on. Wanda nodded excitedly.

"Natasha's in on it too so we don't get killed," Wanda said. They heard a knock on the door and Wanda rushed to hide the supplies. They relaxed when it was just Natasha who was at the door.

"Three hours after they all go to bed," Natasha whispered. Wanda and Peter nodded. "I'll come get you."

"Okay," Wanda said. Natasha smiled and shut the door, going back into the living room while Wanda and Peter grinned down at their supplies.

"I want the siren light," Peter said. He reached out and clutched it to his chest.

"Fine, I wanted the air horn anyway," Wanda said. They glanced at the megaphone that was left for Natasha. "I don't think she'll mind that." Peter agreed. Natasha liked yelling things out at her teammates, so the megaphone was perfect for her.

"Should we go back out?" Peter asked. Wanda nodded. She put everything back in the backpack and shoved it under Peter's bed. They walked back into the living room together, Wanda going back to Vision while Peter sat on the floor near the coffee table and started on his homework. It took him three hours instead of one thanks to the Avengers and their "help", but eventually he got it done. Once he had finally finished, he put everything back in his backpack and joined in the conversation. He had insisted on being left out after Sam had distracted him for the third time. To be fair, the others had done their fair share of distracting him as well.

It was around 10:30pm when Tony sent Peter to bed. He was reluctant at first, but then caught Wanda's eye and nodded. He brushed his teeth and changed into sweatpants to sleep in. He pushed open his window just a bit so he could have cool air in his room then flopped down on his bed. He had just plugged in his phone to charge when his dad knocked on the door. He walked inside and smiled at Peter. He sat down on the edge of his bed and Peter grinned at him.

"How's school been?" Tony asked. Peter shrugged.

"I like it a lot," he answered. He was suddenly glad he still had on his shirt so his dad couldn't see the bruises on his chest. He would have to remember to keep his shirt on until those went away. "Ned and Michelle are really helpful."

"That's good," Tony said. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" Peter nodded and Tony gave him a soft smile. "I love you, Peter."

"I love you too, Dad," Peter replied. Tony kissed Peter's forehead then got up and left, leaving Peter alone in his room. A few minutes later, right when Peter was about to ask FRIDAY to turned off the lights when another knock came to his door. Peter frowned and called for the person to come in. It was Natasha.

"Hey, I didn't want to say anything earlier to draw attention, but I want to make sure you didn't break any ribs or anything," she said softly, shutting the door behind her. Peter nodded and sat up on his bed. He knew Natasha was good at medical work and he was glad. He really didn't want to go to the Stark medical wing and tell them to keep his visit a secret; he knew that wouldn't work out too well.


	12. Chapter 12

Exactly three hours after the last person (Tony) had gone to bed, Natasha knocked on Peter's door. He groaned as the door opened and Natasha walked in. She had FRIDAY turn on the lights, but keep them dim, and went to wake up Peter. When he realised it was Natasha, he forced himself awake. He sat up and crawled under his bed to grab the backpack. He pulled out the megaphone and handed it to Natasha. She grinned. He grabbed the siren light and the air horn, careful not to press the air horn on.

He quietly followed Natasha out of his room and down to guest floor where all the Avengers were staying. They woke up Wanda who was with Vision. Vision gave them strange looks but it didn't take Wanda long to convince him not to do anything. She warned him they were going to make a panic, but he should just stay in her room and she would tell him telepathically when to come out. He nodded and wished them luck. They walked to the end of the hall right by Steve and Clint's room. Wanda grabbed the air horn and raised it above her hand. She waited for Natasha's signal then pressed down on it. Peter flicked on his siren light and held it above his head. Natasha started yelling into the microphone and banging on doors as they ran down the halls.

"It's an emergency! Get up! Hurry!" she screamed into the megaphone. They raced down the hall then turned around to see everyone shoving each other down the hall in a hurry to escape. Natasha has told Bruce ahead of time that he should stay on a different floor and then explained why. The last thing they needed was the Hulk.

"Where's the emergency?" Steve yelled, stumbling down the hall shirtless and in flannel pants. His hair was a mess and he looked truly terrified. Sam was only in his boxers and looked like he was about to wet himself in fear. Clint was looking very disheveled with his hair pointing every which way and his Brave Merida sweatpants and pink t-shirt. Bucky just wandered out of his room sleepily, rubbing his eyes then glaring at the three in the living room. When the others all saw Natasha, Wanda, and Peter laughing in the living room, they calmed down and glared at them.

"You should have seen your faces," Natasha managed to say between laughs.

"That was hilarious," Peter gasped, clutching his stomach. Wanda was laughing too hard to say anything.

"Haha, that was great," Sam said dryly. He had evidently not recovered from his undignified panic. "Can we go back to sleep now?"

"FRIDAY, you got that on video, right?" Peter asked, looking up at the ceiling as he slowly calmed down.

"Of course," FRIDAY replied. Clint and Sam groaned, turning around and walking back to their rooms. Steve just smiled and shook his head.

"No more," he said, pointing at the three before leaving. They nodded, tears in their eyes from laughing too much.

"We couldn't do more anyway," Natasha told him. "You'd be expecting it." Steve just waved goodnight over his shoulder then shut the door to his room. Bucky followed close behind after muttering something in Russian to Natasha. Wanda collected the supplies back up then returned to her room as well. Natasha took Peter back upstairs to his room and as they were walking past Tony's room, they both stopped. They looked at each other then grinned. Peter set the siren light at the bottom of the door and picked up the air horn. Natasha gave the signal and he blasted it while she yelled. T ony came bursting out of his room and tripped over the siren light. Natasha couldn't continue yelling, dissolving into more laughter. Peter let go of the air horn and laughed with her as Tony groaned and rolled onto his back.

"You're both from the devil," he mumbled, dragging a hand down his face. Peter just laughed and asked FRIDAY if she had gotten that on video too. Of course she had. "I swear, you and your pranks will be the death of me. Wait, where's Wanda?" Tony asked, standing back up and looking around for the third companion.

"She's downstairs," Peter said. He explained what they had done on guest floor and that doing it to Tony had been a split second decision. Tony's eyes widened when they said guest hall, remembering Bruce was down there. "Don't worry, Uncle Bruce is on a whole different floor. We warned him ahead of time."

"You didn't tell me you were doing it up here, too," Bruce said, rubbing his eyes as he walked down the hall. Thankfully he had been on the other end of the house and been sleeping with ear plugs in anyway.

"Sorry, Uncle Bruce," Peter said, turning off the siren light. "It was a last minute idea."

"Well I hope you got both on video," Bruce said. Peter nodded happily. "Good. I want to sleep." He turned around and returned to his room. Tony sent Peter off to bed so he gathered up their supplies, accidentally set of the air horn, then returned to his room. Natasha went back downstairs to her room and found Steve, Sam, and Clint were still awake. Apparently they weren't tired enough to go to sleep so they were going to go down to the training room for a while. Natasha didn't see Wanda or Bucky among them and peered into Wanda's room first. She was fast asleep with Vision beside her. Natasha smiled and shut the door, going down the hall to look for Bucky. He was fast asleep as well. She shut his door and walked into her own room, laying down to try and sleep. However, she couldn't and decided to join the boys downstairs in the training room. When she saw them all running laps at full speed, she turned back around and went up to her room. She wasn't that desperate to fall asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Peter never told Ned what happened after school on Wednesday. Ned asked if Flash has bothered him much, but Peter just shrugged and told him Flash had only been a bother during classes and passing period. Ned had apologised and promised never to leave him during the school day every again. Peter wasn't sure how long he could keep that promise, but he was sure Ned would genuinely try.

Flash didn't physically hurt Peter for the rest of the week. In fact, he steered clear of him so much that Ned and Michelle asked if Peter had done something when they weren't around. Peter said he hadn't, but neither one really believed him. Flash went back to his regular self the following morning, though, and Peter had never been so happy to be bullied. Now his friends wouldn't be suspicious about what had gone on between the two when they weren't around.

"I bet Penis ends up as a high school drop out and becomes the school janitor," Flash snickered. Peter just sighed and continued drawing in his notebook. They were going on their first field trip for ELS class which just so happened to be on campus. The first career they were looking at was teaching. Peter wasn't that enthusiastic about it, but a couple people were. He just wanted to know if they were going to visit somewhere that had to do with computers or tech.

"Shut up, Flash," Michelle said. Flash mocked her silently but turned away from them. Peter gave Michelle a thankful smile and she just shrugged. "His bullying is annoying when I try to read," she told him. Peter wasn't even surprised by that. He just went back to drawing. He was trying to create different models for Bruce to use with his algae farm, but so far the two he had made for Bruce hadn't worked.

"Alright, everyone," Miss Kramer said. "Our first stop is the Algebra room. Please follow me in a single file line and make sure you're quiet. We don't want to disturb anyone." Everyone collectively groaned and followed her out of the door. They didn't even bother with the single file line.

* * *

That evening, Peter came home with a permission slip for his parents to sign. His class was going off campus tomorrow to visit Fort Hamilton. Tomorrow's field trip was for those interested in a career in the military. Peter figured it would be better than walking around the school and watching different teachers teach their classes, but he wasn't too excited about it.

"Hey! How was your first field trip?" Pepper asked as Peter walked into the penthouse. Happy had been the one to take Peter home since Pepper was unable to get off work early enough and Tony was in one of his moods where he didn't want to be disturbed from his lab.

"Boring," Peter said. He dropped his backpack by the couch and carried the permission slip over to Pepper. She looked up from her laptop and skimmed over the paper. "We just watched different teachers teach and then asked them questions if they didn't have a class."

"Well, I'm sure some kids enjoyed it," Pepper said. She reached towards the coffee table for a pen and Peter grabbed it for her.

"They did," Peter said. He quickly reminded her to sign it 'Pepper Parker' instead of 'Pepper Stark' and she nodded, stopping right before making the S. "Emily, Oliver, Sam, Rebecca, and Claire obviously enjoyed it."

"Did Michelle?" Pepper asked, handing the signed slip back to him. Peter shrugged.

"Doubt it," he answered. He returned the slip to his backpack as he said, "But you never can tell for sure." Pepper nodded in agreement. Peter walked into the kitchen and grabbed a banana for a quick snack.

"Bruce is waiting for you in the lab," Pepper told him. Peter lit up and hurried to his backpack. He dug around for the drawings of his model then ran downstairs to show them to Bruce. He quickly finished his banana, tossing the peel in the trash as he walked into the lab.

"I have another model," Peter announced, walking over to Bruce. Bruce looked up and smiled at him. Peter spotted the red band around Dummy and didn't bother his dad, recognising the silent request to leave him alone.

"Let's take a look," Bruce said, reaching for the papers. Peter handed them over and Bruce read through them, looking closely at every part of the model that Peter had drawn. After five minutes, Bruce set the papers down and had FRIDAY scan them and bring them up as a hologram.

"I was going to add another incubator here, but I didn't have time," Peter said, pointing on the paper. Bruce nodded and added it in on the hologram version before exploding it to make it bigger.

"This might actually work, Peter," Bruce said, smiling as he looked all around the model generator. They found the supplies they would need and began building a small scale version of the model. They were only about a quarter of the way done when FRIDAY told them dinner was ready. They finished the part they had been working on then went upstairs to join Pepper for dinner. They didn't bother waiting for Tony; he was unlikely to show up in the middle of a project.

"So, any new breakthroughs on the algae?" Pepper asked.

"Peter came up with a new generator design," Bruce said. He explained how they were working on it now and that he was pretty optimistic about it. Then again, he had been pretty optimistic about the other two designs as well. Pepper seemed happy to know that they felt like they were getting closer; she was always for renewable and clean energy sources.

"Well, I hope you get your breakthrough soon," she said. Peter nodded happily and Bruce did as well, though with less bouncing. "Peter's going on a field trip to Fort Hamilton tomorrow," Pepper told Bruce.

"Really?" Bruce asked. Peter nodded.

"Have you been there?" he asked. Bruce shook his head.

"No, but I think Cap has," he answered. Peter figured that would make sense. Fort Hamilton was in Brooklyn and what military loving kid that lived close to a military base wouldn't visit? Especially since he joined the war later. "You'll have to tell him how much it's changed."

"I will," Peter promised.


	14. Chapter 14

Thursday was the day they went to a computer company. Peter had barely been able to go to sleep Wednesday night, too excited for the next day. He woke up before Pepper did and started making breakfast on his own. FRIDAY must have told her, though, because she didn't come out until Tony did. Peter had just finished the french toast when they walked into the dining room. Tony went straight for the coffee and was surprised to see it had already been made. Peter had started on it first thing, knowing his dad was going to be tired after staying up for three days straight just so he could finish working on a breakthrough project.

"Good morning, Peter," Pepper said. She kissed his head and Peter grinned, flipping the last piece of french toast.

"Good morning, Mom!" he exclaimed. He turned around and hugged her quickly. "Hi, Dad!"

"Hey, Pete," Tony said. He ruffled Peter's hair as he walked by and Peter tried to fix it quickly. He took the last piece of french toast off the frying pan and onto a plate already full of french toast. He turned off the stove and carried the french toast plate to the table he had already set. He grabbed the butter, powered sugar, and syrup and put it on the table as well. Once everything was set, they began eating.

"Did you sleep at all last night, Peter?" Pepper asked. Peter nodded, his mouth full of french toast. "Really? Cause you were up late then awake before me." Peter shrugged.

"I did fall asleep," he assured her. "I'm just not tired."

"Are you really that excited to go see Google?" Tony teased. He knew the answer was going to be a very excited 'yes'. Peter had been talking non-stop about going to Google's Chelsea Office ever since he found out about it. He had never been there before, but Tony knew it was Peter's dream to one day work at Google if even for just a summer. Peter also had plans for Stark Industries, so Tony didn't think of Google as much of a threat.

"Dad, this place is so cool!" Peter said. He began telling Tony more about Google and forgot about his french toast entirely. Pepper reminded him he needed to finish his food before they could leave, though, and his talking ceased. He hurried to finish his breakfast then clean up the table before running to brush his teeth. He fixed his hair in the mirror then grabbed his phone and a draw string backpack. Unsurprisingly it had the Stark Industries logo and name on it. Tony tended to invest in cheap little gift store items just for the fun of it and Peter got them by default. He was glad for the draw string backpack, though, because it could easily carry his Stark tablet, phone, and a notebook for all his note taking needs.

"Are you ready yet, Peter?" Tony called down the hall. Peter was at the elevator two seconds later and Tony was impressed. They waved goodbye to Pepper then went down to the garage. Peter climbed in the passenger seat of the suburban and they headed off to pick up Ned and Michelle. They only picked Ned and Michelle up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All the other days they either took the bus or drove with their own parents.

"Are you ready for this?" Ned asked, climbing into the car.

"Dude, I've been dreaming about this day my whole life," Peter replied. Tony didn't doubt that. He pulled out of Ned's driveway as the two talked animatedly about visiting Google. Michelle joined them instead of reading once she was picked up. Tony wondered if she would one day work for Google or if Peter would manage to convince her to work for Stark Industries.

"Alright, nerds," Tony said, pulling into his regular spot at the far end of the parking lot. "Enjoy your tech day." All three raced out of the car. Peter hugged Tony as best he could through the window then ran into the school building after his friends. He handed his permission slip in to the teacher then joined Ned and Michelle in their regular seats.

"Aren't you worried about someone asking about your backpack?" Ned asked. Peter looked at him, obviously confused by what Ned meant. "It says Stark Industries right on it."

"Ned, you can get this in the gift shop," Peter reminded him. "You have one."

"Oh," Ned said. He nodded. "Right." Peter laughed quietly then looked up at Miss Kramer called for their attention. She led them out to the bus and Ned, Peter, and Michelle tried to sit as close to the front as possible. They wanted to be the first ones off so they could get inside as soon as they could. Of course, Flash noticed and scoffed, muttering 'nerds' as he passed. They didn't pay him any attention, too invested in talking about their upcoming field trip.

"Look, I even brought Karen so I can remember everything," Peter said, pulling out his phone. Ned and Michelle were very familiar with Karen. She lived in every single one of Peter's electronics including his laptop and tablet.

"Hello," Karen said. A few kids glanced at them and gave him strange looks. Peter shoved his phone back in his bag and Karen stopped talking.

"Make sure you get everything," Ned said. Peter nodded. "Like, film the whole tour or something and take loads of pictures."

"Yeah," Peter said. "Don't worry. Both my tablet and phone are fully charged in preparation for today."

"You guys are almost too excited," Michelle said. Peter just rolled his eyes, but also noticed she hadn't brought a book. When he pointed it out to her she shrugged. "So I wanted to pay attention today? What's it to you?" she asked. Peter just grinned and went back to talking about everything he had read about Google's Chelsea Office. It felt like hours before they parked the bus and everyone was let off. Miss Kramer walked them all down the street and into the building. It was even more amazing than Peter could have imagined.


	15. Chapter 15

Lunch arrived and Peter was too excited to eat. The first part of the tour had been so amazing Peter was worried his brain would explode with how cool everything was. He had filmed the entire thing on his tablet and Ned had taken photos on his phone. Once they had gotten their lunch, Ned, Michelle, and Peter all found a place to sit and eat. Ned and Peter were working on uploading their videos and photos onto a cloud online so both of them could access everything. Michelle split her time between watching them and looking around the cafeteria. The boys didn't eat until Michelle told them they were going to regret it later. They kept looking through Ned's photos as they ate and Peter's tablet uploaded the video to the online photo gallery they had created.

"Nerds," Flash said, walking past. He glanced down at them then did a double take. "Where'd you get that, Parker?" he asked, pointing at Peter's tablet. Peter glanced up at Flash then at his tablet. His blood ran cold as he realised he had brought his tablet that hadn't been released to the public yet. To make matters worse, his Stark phone wasn't even announced and he was holding it.

"It's just an old kindle," Peter lied, grabbing his tablet and trying to shove it in his backpack. Flash grabbed it before he could and picked it up.

"This is the new Stark tablet!" he exclaimed, looking at it in awe. Michelle turned to face them and Peter looked at her for help. "How'd you get this? It isn't even release yet." Peter gulped.

"I-I'm Mr. Stark's intern?" he said. "He g-gave it to me?" Flash obvious didn't believe him. Between the stuttering and the statements sounding more like questions, Peter's answer wasn't very believable.

"Don't lie to me, Penis," Flash snapped. He continued admiring the tablet. "Is there somewhere that sold them early? Or did you steal it?"

"I didn't steal it!" Peter yelled. He jumped up to try and grab his tablet back, but Flash held it out of his reach. "Flash, give it back!"

"Nah, I think I'm gonna keep this," Flash said. He grinned and looked at Peter. "Thanks for the free tablet." Peter took a deep breath to try and keep from crying in frustration. Flash couldn't keep his tablet. If he did, questions about how he got it would rise up. He had no doubt they would anyway, but he also knew if he could get his dad to just say he was an intern, they could settle those rumors.

"Karen, lock my tablet," Peter said. Karen did as told and the tablet in Flash's hands turned off. Flash stared down at it in shock then glared at Peter.

"What was that? Who's Karen?" he demanded.

"Give me my tablet back," Peter said. He held out his hand but Flash just glared at him. "I'll make it self destruct if you don't. Karen's programmed to do that."

"You wouldn't destroy a tablet like this," Flash sneered. Peter stared at Flash, waiting for him to hand Peter's tablet back. At this point, other kids were watching and a few of the Google employees had looked over as well. Peter just wanted to go back to being invisible.

"Fine," Peter said. He looked Flash in the eyes as he said, "Karen, self destruct tablet in ten seconds." He was really hoping his dad hadn't actually installed a self destruct feature. If he had, Peter was pretty sure he had more questions about why it had been installed than his dad would have about why he had used it.

"Ten, nine," Karen started counting down from the tablet and Peter wanted to kill his dad. Why would someone put a self destruct feature on a tablet? "Five, four..." Flash panicked and shoved the tablet back into Peter's arms and jumped back.

"Karen, stop!" Peter said. Karen stopped and the tablet unlocked. His video upload had completed. "Leave us alone, Flash," Peter said. Flash rolled his eyes and walked off, but not before knocking the tablet out of Peter's hands and onto the ground. He snickered as Peter sat down and picked up the tablet. It remained perfectly unscratched, something he was glad his dad had been able to achieve. "Karen, is there really a self destruct option?" Peter asked, closing down his tablet and putting it back in his draw string bag.

"No," Karen replied. Peter grinned. Karen was easily the best AI ever. Even better than FRIDAY if she could go along with Peter's plan of a fake self destruct feature. "However, I am programmed to wipe all data and burn the core of whatever device ends up in the wrong hands if not returned within the allotted time period." Peter frowned.

"What's the time period?" he asked.

"Twelve minutes," Karen replied. Of course it was. Peter wasn't sure why, but twelve seemed to be the lucky number for all the Avengers. He would have been more surprised if the number had been something other than twelve.


	16. Chapter 16

When Tony picked Peter up from school, he could tell something was wrong. He was still very excited and told Tony every little detail. He even mentioned how he filmed the whole first part of the tour on his tablet and that's when Tony felt like something was wrong. Peter quieted down for a moment then changed the subject. After dropping Ned and Michelle off, Tony asked Peter what was wrong.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked. He sounded genuinely confused, too, but Tony didn't let that ease his mind.

"Did something go wrong on the field trip?" Tony asked. He pulled off the freeway and drove towards the Tower. "You got quiet partway through." Peter sighed.

"Oh," he said. Tony nodded and pulled into the Tower's garage. "It's just, one of the kids saw my Stark tablet and asked how I got it. I told him I was one of your interns, but he didn't believe me." 

"Why did you take your tablet?" Tony asked. He parked the car but locked the doors. Peter frowned and sat back in his seat. "I'm not upset, I just need to know if I need to clean up rumors."

"I just wanted to film the tour and Flash grabbed my tablet," Peter said. "It wasn't that big of a deal, but he wouldn't give it back. That reminds me, Karen is so much better than FRIDAY." Tony frowned and shook his head.

"No, FRIDAY is better," he said. Peter grinned and shook his head.

"Karen pretended my tablet had a self destruct feature and I got my tablet back," Peter said. Tony did look mildly impressed with Peter's AI. "She's the best."

"Perhaps," Tony agreed. He unlocked the doors and they both climbed out of the suburban. "FRIDAY would just rat me out." He glared at the ceiling in response.

"I was programmed to provide facts, not stories," FRIDAY replied. Tony rolled his eyes and Peter laughed to himself.

"Just get inside," Tony said, motioning for Peter to enter the elevator first. "Mom's dying to hear all about your Google field trip."

"Oh! I want to show you both all the photos and the video," Peter said. Tony nodded and promised he'd have FRIDAY pull it onto the living room TV so they can see everything better than on Peter's phone.

As soon as they got up to the penthouse, Peter called Pepper into the living room. Tony had FRIDAY put everything on the TV and they sat on a couch in the living room. Peter told Pepper everything about the trip, telling them about each photo then adding in things that weren't in photos but had happened. It took nearly forty five minutes to get through all the photos and that wasn't including the tour video. Peter said they didn't need to watch it anyway; it was long and he had covered everything in the tour video and more.

"In that case, dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes," Pepper said. Peter helped her, making the grilled cheese while she made the tomato soup. Tony downloaded all of Peter's photos onto his private server and by the time he was done, he had just enough time to set the table before dinner was ready.

"Did Uncle Bruce finish the model I designed?" Peter asked his dad, dipping his grilled cheese into his soup.

"I don't think so," Tony answered. "He never showed up today. I called Cap and he said Bruce was working on something else at the Compound."

"Oh," Peter said. His face brightened and Tony looked at him questioningly. "Speaking of Compound, I have another field trip permission slip for you to sign." He got up from the table before Pepper could tell him to wait and grabbed the permission slip out of his draw string bag. He grabbed a pen and set the paper in front of Tony.

"How does the Compound remind you of a field trip?" Tony asked. Peter just pointed to the slip and Tony read through it. "Oh, that's where you going. Oh god, good luck."

"Yeah," Peter said, his excitement disappearing. If even one of the Avengers acted different around Peter, people were bound to ask questions. They definitely wouldn't let it go as easily as Flash had let go of the tablet incident.

"I'll tell them to pretend you're not there," Tony said. He signed the paper, making sure it said 'Parker' instead of 'Stark'. "They should listen."

"Okay," Peter said. He had been to the Compound multiple times, so he would have to mark this as one of the less exciting field trips. Especially right after going to Google. However, they would be spending the whole morning in the office section where various CIA, FBI, and SHIELD agents worked. The morning part was focused on intelligence agencies and working for them while the afternoon was described as being 'just a fun afternoon with the Avengers'. Apparently the Avengers would be showing them around the rest of the Compound and even hanging out with them for an hour or two. Peter wasn't sure what that meant, but he wasn't sure he was going to like it.

"You should be fine in the morning," Tony told him. Peter nodded. "Don't use your key card, though. Let them give you another." Peter nodded again. If they could keep his real identity a secret throughout the entire field trip, then Peter was sure the rest of the year would be easy.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning, Pepper took Peter to school. Tony had flown to the Compound in his Iron Man suit when they left for school so he could tell the team what was happening. They would have an hour or so before the school group would arrive, but Tony wanted to make sure all of them knew what was going on. If even one person screwed up, it was game over. Pepper made sure Peter left his tablet at him, but he hadn't been thinking about bringing it anyway. He did take his phone, though. He didn't like going anywhere with Karen or knowing he could easily contact his dad if something bad happened.

"You'll be okay, Peter," Pepper promised. Peter nodded and hugged his mom. She kissed his head then sent him into school. She watched him run inside then got back in the suburban and returned to the Tower.

Peter sat with Ned on the bus, Michelle right behind them reading a book. Peter had teased her about not being interested in the Avengers and she had just rolled her eyes. When he asked if she was excited about meeting Iron Man, she almost flicked his forehead. Peter just laughed and turned back to Ned. They talked about Google the entire way there, but as soon as they pulled up to the Compound, Ned went wide eyed and his jaw dropped. Peter had to remind himself Ned had never been to the Compound before. Despite having Iron Man as his uncle, Ned had never actually been to the newest Avengers Facility. He did know Bruce and Steve fairly well. Ned was also familiar with Natasha and Clint, but he wasn't that close to them.

"Okay, follow me inside where we'll get our badges," Miss Kramer said. Everyone unloaded the bus and Peter followed Ned and Michelle in the middle of the group. They were all handed badges at the front desk then taken back to the offices by Sharon Carter. Peter had heard about her, but never actually met her. Apparently she was their tour guide and worked for SHIELD. If Peter was being honest, though, the tour around the offices and meeting with the different intelligence agents was interesting, but not nearly as amazing as Google.

Lunch came slowly and Peter happily grabbed his sack lunch from the bus. He sat on the grass towards the edge of the yard and Ned and Michelle joined him. Michelle ate her food while she read and Ned chattered about the tour. Peter just nodded along, not really listening to Ned as he recalled the tour. He then started talking about how the afternoon was going to be fun, hanging out with the Avengers.

"I mean, maybe it won't be that fun for you," Ned said, shrugging then biting into his sandwich. "How are you going to stay a secret if everyone knows you? Cause as soon as one of them talks to you, Flash is gonna be irritating about it."

"My dad has it handled," Peter assured him.

"Your dad's here too? Man, all the Avengers," Ned said, wide eyed. Peter nodded. All the Avengers and Bucky, but he figured Bucky would remain hidden as most parents probably didn't want him around their kids and Bucky was painfully aware of this fact.

Miss Kramer called them all back to the bus after an hour long lunch break and they all threw their trash away and returned their things to the bus. Sharon met them outside then took them to the part of the building the Avengers actually lived in. They scanned their cards, FRIDAY reading out what type of card it was and the level of clearance they had. Peter held his breath as she scanned his card and only relaxed when she called out the same thing as everyone else. Apparently it was obvious, because Flash scoffed.

"Worried Stark wouldn't let you in so you could steal another tablet?" Flash asked. Peter rolled his eyes and tried to ignore Flash. "Don't roll your eyes at me," Flash snapped. He lowered his voice. "Did you forget what happened last time?" Before Peter could reply, Sharon led them all further into the building and Flash went back to his group of friends.

"Just ignore him," Michelle told Peter. He nodded and followed Michelle along with the group. They walked into the living room and Peter heard a collective gasp from the group. He stood on his tip toes to see who was in front of them and saw Steve and Sam talking in the living room. They stopped when they saw the group of high school students and Steve smiled. Sam did the opposite. Peter wasn't surprised.

"Hey, you must be Midtown High," Steve said. A few kids nodded while the others just stared in shock. "Well, I heard we're hanging out for the afternoon. Is there anything in particular you want to do?" No one answered. Peter watched awkwardly from the back, avoiding eye contact with Sam and Steve by staring at his feet.

"Do y'all just want to stand there or do you want to ask us questions or something?" Sam asked. Clearly Steve had not told Sam how to act around high schoolers.

"U-Um, what is t-there to do?" a kid asked shyly.

"Good questions," Steve said, smiling at the kid. "You can ask us questions, we can give you tour of the place, we could show you how we train, there's a lot of things. What would you like to do first?" The kid seemed to shy to answer. "How about we start with a tour?" The kid nodded so Steve stood up. Sam stayed seated until Steve told him to come. Sam took up the back of the line and Peter tried to hide. Sam noticed and smirked, but didn't say anything.

After a tour of the Compound, Steve took everyone down to the training rooms. Natasha and Clint were already down there, beating each other up. The group of students watched as Natasha beat Clint then stood up. She didn't seem fazed to see a bunch of teenagers watching her. She did however, make eye contact with Peter. She didn't do anything like smile or wave, but Peter knew she had seen him. That was fine as long as she didn't call him out.


	18. Chapter 18

Steve let some of the kids train with Natasha and Clint. They showed them basic fighting skills and then Natasha and Steve fought by request. Okay, maybe it wasn't really a request. Some kid had made a comment about how Steve was probably better cause he was bigger than Clint and a superhuman, so of course Steve was all for fighting Natasha after that. After Natasha had beat Steve, she told the kid that she was trained by the Winter Soldier and a superhuman as well so if he wanted to make another comment about her not being a good fighter, he could step up and fight her next. He didn't and Steve took them back upstairs.

"That was so awesome," Ned squealed. Peter just grinned and nodded.

"You should see her when she's upset," Peter said. "She likes to see how long it takes her to beat both Steve and Bucky at the same time." Ned's eyes widened and Peter nodded. Flash scoffed and Peter realised he hadn't been watching out for other who could have been listening.

"What? Like you know them?" he said. Peter just rolled his eyes and turned to follow Ned into the living room. Flash wasn't having it, though. He grabbed Peter's shoulder and drug him around a corner. "You think you're funny! Sending Black Widow and Captain America look-a-likes after me that one day, but I know you don't actually know them."

"You're just jealous," Peter replied. He'd had enough of Flash's bullying. "Just leave me alone." Peter turned to leave the room Flash had dragged him into, but Flash grabbed his arm and spun him around. He punched Peter square in the nose and Peter yelled in pain. Flash looked furious. He might have hit Peter again, but his punch was stopped by a metal arm. Flash froze, looking at the metal hand on his wrist then up at its owner.

"Don't touch him," Bucky said lowly. Flash was staring at him, eyes wide in fear as he nodded quickly. Peter was too busy trying to stop his bleeding nose to worry about Bucky killing Flash.

"We're just friends!" Flash said, giving a nervous laugh. "We like to beat each other up for fun. Like Agent Romanov and Agent Barton." He laughed nervously again and Bucky glanced up. Flash turned and saw Natasha standing in the doorway, arms crossed as she glared at Flash.

" _What did he do?_ " she asked in Russian. Flash looked even more nervous if that was possible.

" _He punched Peter,_ " Bucky told her. Peter looked up at his name, cupping his bleeding nose.

"Um, if someone could get me a tissue, that would be nice," he said. Natasha grabbed a nearby tissue box and handed it to him, not breaking eye contact with Flash. Peter grabbed it and put a tissue to his nose. He put his head back and pinched his nose to try and stop the bleeding.

"I thought I warned you last time," Natasha told Flash. He was shaking at this point, making nervous glances towards the door.

"Last time? He's done this before?" Bucky asked. Flash knew he was dead. This was it. His death by two super assassins.

"Natasha. Bucky." They both looked up to see Steve standing in the door. What he had done with the other kids, they didn't know. "What's going on? Leave him alone," Steve said.

"He punched Peter!" Bucky told him. Steve glanced down at Peter who gave a weak wave then cursed as blood hit the floor.

"Get out now," Steve told Flash. He nodded and raced out of the room. Steve pointed at Bucky and Natasha. "Go get it out of your system. Killing a kid will get you locked up. I'll take care of Peter." Bucky and Natasha stormed out of the room and down to the training room. Steve helped Peter down the hall to the bathroom.

"And then he grabbed me and punched me, but Bucky grabbed him before he could punch me again," Peter said, telling Steve what had happened as they tried to stop the bleeding. "Bucky looked like he was about to kill Flash and is it bad I kind of wanted him to? I mean, not really, but maybe just a bit."

"I understand, Peter," Steve said. Peter nodded, wiping his nose as it had stopped bleeding. He frowned down at his blood stained shirt and Steve sighed. "Go grab a new one from your room." Peter nodded and hurried past the living room, trying not to be spotted. He was, though, and Wanda looked less than thrilled to see his covered in blood.

"What the hell happened to you?" she demanded. Peter stopped mid step and turned to look at her. She had red hovering in her hands as she stood up from the couch angrily. Peter saw Flash hide his face.

"I tripped?" Peter said. She didn't buy it and he knew it.

"Peter, you're covered in blood!" Wanda yelled. Peter purses his lips. Any hope of keeping his identity a secret had just flown out the window.

"Not your business, Wanda," Peter said, trying not to get upset with her for ruining his secret. Wanda must have sensed this because her eyes widened and she forced her magic away. "Can I go now?" he asked, pointing down the hall towards his room. Wanda nodded and he all but ran out of sight. He changed his shirt and laid on his bed. A few minutes later, someone knocked on his door. Wanda walked in without permission, but Peter figured saying no wouldn't have stopped her anyway.

"I'm sorry, Peter," Wanda said, shutting the door behind her. "I know I messed up the whole secret keeping thing, but to be fair, you walked in with blood all over." Peter sighed and sat up. Wanda took this as a sign to sit beside him on the bed.

"It's okay," Peter said after a couple seconds. "To be fair, I think Bucky actually gave it away first. He saw it happen and almost killed Flash."

"Wait, a kid did that?" Wanda asked. Peter nodded, staring down at his hands. "Who?"

"Bucky and Natasha already took care of it," Peter told her. She insisted on being told and agreed to do nothing if he told her the whole story. "This kid, Flash, has been bullying me all year. A few weeks ago Natasha and Steve saw him hitting me and Natasha went all Russian ninja.  Then today his punched my nose. Uncle Steve doesn't think it's broken."

"Does your dad know?" Wanda asked. Peter shook his head. They waited a few beats then Wanda grimaced. "He does now. And that kid Flash is about to die."

"What?" Peter exclaimed. They both jumped off Peter's bed and raced back into the living room.


	19. Chapter 19

When Peter and Wanda appeared in the living room, they saw Tony standing over Flash, yelling at him. Bucky and Natasha stood near the back of the room smirking and Steve looked irritated. The rest of Peter's class had moved clear out of Tony's way. Flash was standing in the middle of the living room looking like he was about to wet himself as Tony got after him for punching Peter. However irritated Steve looked, he didn't do anything to stop Tony. Wanda confirmed that he was actually kind of glad Tony was getting after Flash. Peter wasn't that surprised, but he did figure he should do something about it.

"Hey! D-Mr. Stark, stop it!" Peter said, barely remembering his cover as Tony Stark's intern. Tony stopped his yelling and turned to Peter.

"He bullies you?" he asked. Peter was hesitant to answer and Tony took that as a yes. He sighed. "Why didn't you tell me, Peter?"

"Well, I'm just an intern so I figured-" Steve cut him off.

"Yeah, that cover ended the minute Tony found out," he said. Peter looked at him. "He kinda went ballistic and started yelling about hurting his son." Peter groaned and glared at his dad.

"This is why I didn't tell you," he said. "You go and make a big deal about it which only makes things worse. Now I'll have to go back to being home schooled!" Tony looked like Peter had just declared he hated him with all his guts. Peter didn't look guilty, either.

"Peter, I was just trying to-"

"Trying to what? Defend me?" Peter snapped. Tony closed his mouth and swallowed. "Well news flash Dad, Iron Man can't just swoop in and solve every problem I face. Just because you're a superhero doesn't mean you can fix the world. In fact, you often make it worse. Like what you just did. So thanks for trying, but you did the exact opposite of help." Peter paused and glared at Tony. "Sometimes I wish you weren't my Dad." A quick glance at Natasha told him he had maybe gone too far. It was too late now, though; Peter wasn't going to take it back.

"Okay," Tony said softly, nodding then briefly looking up at Peter. "I'm sorry." With that, he turned and walked out of the living room. Peter turned and stormed back down the hall to his room, slamming the door shut. Steve glanced around the room full of teenagers and awkwardly smiled.

"This has been nice," Steve said. "However, I think it's time you all left now." Miss Kramer nodded and gathered everyone up. Too late did Steve notice Wanda's red magic crawling through the crowd of kids. Before he could stop her, the magic disappeared and the kids were all gone. "What did you do?" Steve asked.

"They won't remember anything about Tony and Peter's fight," Wanda said. She glanced at the door, looking outside as everyone got on the bus. "All they remember is their tour, coming to ask us questions, watching you fight, then leaving. They think Peter was just sick today and couldn't come."

"Good plan, Wanda," Clint said. Wanda gave him a small smile then pointed down the hall towards Peter's room, a concerned look on her face.

"Should someone go talk to him?" she asked. Steve nodded and sent Natasha.

"I'm going to go talk to Tony," he said. He turned down the hall Tony had gone down and asked FRIDAY for his location. He was getting ready to fly out in his Iron Man suit apparently, so Steve ran to the launch pad and just barely caught him. "Tony!" he called. Tony looked at him but didn't lift the face plate.

"What's up, Cap?" he asked. He was suddenly very thankful the monotone voice in his suit hid his real voice well. It was shaky at best as Tony tried not to let himself cry.

"You can't leave your kid after a fight like that," Steve said gently. Tony refused to look at Steve through the suit, blinking back tears. "He didn't mean what he said and if you leave now he'll feel even worse than he already does."

"I'm just gonna give him some space," Tony said, his voice shakier than before. "I'll send Happy or Pepper to pick him up when you say he's ready." Steve shook his head.

"Tony, your son was being bullied," Steve said. Tony's jaw clenched at the reminder. "You don't know if he was being threatened not to tell anyone. Just listen to what he has to say." Tony frowned.

"You knew about it," he said. Steve gave a hesitant nod. "He told you but he didn't tell me?" Steve tried to tell him what had actually happened and how he had found out, but he stopped when he realised it probably wouldn't help the situation. "I have to go."

"Don't leave, Tony," he said. "You'll regret it. You need to talk to him." Tony shook a shuddering breath as the first tear trickled down his face.

"Sorry, Cap. I can't," he said. He was about to take off but Steve grabbed onto his arm.

"Tony, just wait for him here," Steve all but begged. "You can't just abandon him even if he made you cry."

"He didn't make me cry," Tony said quickly as more tears slid down his face. Steve obviously didn't believe him based on the look Tony received.

"Then take off the mask," he told him. Tony didn't reply. "It's okay to admit he made you upset, just don't take off and leave him. He still needs you; you're his dad."

"That's not what he wants me to be, though," Tony said. Before Steve could continue trying to convince him to stay, he took off and had FRIDAY autopilot the way to the Tower. He didn't leave the lab once he returned. He didn't want to explain what had happened to Pepper and he barely made it to the couch near Bruce's desk before he collapsed, sobbing as he recalled what Peter had said. Maybe he really wasn't fit to be a superhero. He should just stop now so he didn't continue to disappoint Peter; or Pepper for that matter. He didn't allow himself to dwell on it anymore before grabbed an iron rod and smashing the side of his suit repeatedly. He didn't want to mess up Peter's life anymore than he already had.


	20. Chapter 20

Natasha poked her head into Peter's room. He slowly pushed open the door and walked in, shutting the door behind her. Peter was laying face down on his bed, but he didn't appear to be crying. She couldn't be sure, though, so she made her way across the room and sat on the edge of his bed. Peter didn't even shift. She gently rubbed his back and eventually Peter let out a sob. He cried into his pillow for nearly fifteen minutes before he slowed to just whimpers and then sniffles. Once he was just sniffling, he forced himself to sit up and face Natasha. She didn't say anything as he wiped his face and a few more tears trickled down his face.

"I didn't mean it, Aunt Tasha," Peter said quietly, hiccuping part way through his sentence. He sniffled again and wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve. "I was just mad. I don't really want him to not be my Dad. I wasn't thinking." Natasha pulled Peter to her chest and hugged him tightly, rubbing his back as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I know," she said softly. She kissed his head then laid her cheek on top of his curls. "I know you didn't mean it. People say things they don't mean when they're upset."

"But what if he thinks I really meant it?" Peter cried, hugging her tighter.

"Oh Peter," Natasha said. "He knows you love him and he loves you too."

"Not after that," Peter whimpered. "I just wish he wouldn't try and fix all my problems sometimes. I want to fix them myself, but I never get to when he's always ready to do it for me." Natasha nodded and gently combed her fingers through his hair.

"He was just doing what he thought was best," she told him. Peter let out a sob and Natasha hugged him tighter. "It's good you told him you didn't want him to fix all your problems, but you should have done it better."

"I know, I just-"

"I know you were upset, Peter," Natasha interrupted. Peter pulled away from her and wiped his face with shaking hands. "And now you have to fix this with your dad, but your life isn't over. Now you can go and talk to him about how you feel and get somewhere. Next time, though, try not to explode." Peter nodded and Natasha kissed his forehead. "Do you want to go talk to him now?" she asked. Peter thought for a second then nodded. Natasha stood up and offered him her hand. Peter took it and followed her out of the room and down the hall. They found most of the team in the living room, but Tony was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Peter," Steve smiled softly. Peter gave a small smile back but stayed quiet.

"Where's Tony? Peter wants to talk to him," Natasha said. Steve's small smile dropped and Natasha immediately knew what had happened.

"He left," Steve said. Tears started down Peter's face once again and Natasha hugged him.

"He hates me now!" Peter cried. "He doesn't want to talk to me because he hates me." Wanda got up from the couch before Steve could and hurried over to Peter. She rubbed his back as he cried, but it didn't seem to do anything.

"He doesn't hate you," Wanda tried telling him. Peter shook his head fiercely and continued to cry.

"Then why did he leave?" Peter demanded. He pulled away from Natasha and tried to go back to his room, but Steve stopped him. "Let me go!" Peter yelled, trying to push Steve away. Steve didn't move, though, and eventually Peter gave up trying to escape and put his head against Steve's chest and cried.

"It'll be okay, Peter," Steve promised. He hugged Peter tightly and Peter just stood in front of him crying. "Everything will work out."

* * *

Pepper could hear something being smashed in the lab. At first she thought nothing of it. Tony was always breaking things. Then she realised he was supposed to be at the Compound for two more hours. She frowned and asked FRIDAY who was in the lab. Bruce hasn't come in, so it couldn't be him. Besides, he rarely broke anything when he wasn't Hulk and he never turned into Hulk in the Tower. He knew it was too dangerous and made a point of not losing his anger.

"It appears Mr. Stark is in the lab having an emotional breakdown," FRIDAY reported. Pepper stood up quickly. Why was Tony having a breakdown? Why was he back so early? Had something happened to Peter? She tried not to worry too much, hoping Tony would be able to explain what had happened. As she walked into the lab to see him smashing all of his suits, though, she figured explaining would have to wait.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled, rushing forward to stop him. He stopped mid swing, turning to look at Pepper. He was a mess. His face was red and soaked in tears. "Oh my god, what happened?" she asked, taking the iron bar from his hand and setting it down. Tony didn't respond. He just collapsed against her, sobbing as he buried his face in her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and tried to calm him down, but it seemed useless. "Tony? Please tell me what happened," she said softly after her had calmed down a bit. He pulled back and wiped his face, sniffling and trying to regain composure.

"Peter and I had a fight," he said quietly. He walked over to Bruce's desk and grabbed a tissue. He blew his nose while Pepper just watched. "He's been keeping the fact that he's being bullied at school from us. Apparently Steve knew, though." Tony gave a bitter laugh and blew his nose again. "Pep, he said he wished I wasn't his dad. He all but said Iron Man was stupid."

"Oh, Tony," Pepper said, reaching forward to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. He could see his destroyed suits laying on the floor and closed his eyes.

"What do I do, Pep? He hates me," Tony said. Pepper rubbed his back and squeezed him tighter.

"Calm down, first," she told him. Tony was working on it. "Then you're going to go back and talk to him. He doesn't really hate you."

"You didn't hear him, Pepper," Tony said. Peter's words echoed in his head and he felt more tears trickle down his face. "It was awful."

"I know," Pepper whispered. "Just talk to him. Then if he truly does hate you, we'll go from there."


	21. Chapter 21

Peter spent the next three hours at the Compound in the living room. The team refused to let him go back to his room and be alone even though that was all he wanted to do. Instead, they made him stay with them in the living room. Peter had spent the whole time laying in on couch with his head in Natasha's lap. Neither of them had moved for hours. Peter didn't feel like he had the energy and Natasha didn't want to disrupt whatever was going on in his head. He had only cried for about half an hour during the entire three hour period, so they figured at this point he was busy thinking about how to fix things. They weren't wrong.

"Does anyone want cookies?" Bucky asked, walking into the living room with a frilly pink apron on. Peter didn't even blink. Steve smiled and Bucky set a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table. Once the smell reached Peter, it was only a matter of time before he was sitting up. He reached for a cookie and nibbled on it. He didn't talk, but when Bucky returned with a glass of milk, he gave him a small smile.

Ten minutes after Bucky had brought in the cookies, they were gone. Peter had eaten all but two; Natasha and Steve had each grabbed one before Peter could eat them all. When Peter realised they were gone, he frowned. He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen where Bucky was putting in another pan of cookies while more cooled. Bucky turned around and was surprised to see Peter, but he grinned nonetheless.

"I made snicker doodle, too," he said. He pointed to the oven. "I just put them in. They'll be done in about twenty minutes." Peter nodded and sat on a stool at the counter. He reached for more of the chocolate chip cookies Bucky had just made and happily ate them. "FRIDAY, can you tell everyone there's cookies in the kitchen?" Bucky asked. He pulled the plate away from Peter who frowned. "You can't eat them all."

"But they're good and I'm upset," Peter reminded him. Bucky gave him a look. "If you want me to be upset forever and ever, then feel free to take the cookies." Bucky rolled his eyes. If Peter could make remarks like that, he was on his way to being himself again. Which was good because a minute later, the kitchen was full of super humans all fighting for cookies.

"Snicker doodle are in the oven," Bucky told them. He set the plate of chocolate chip back in front of Peter and everyone swarmed it. "You're welcome," Bucky mumbled. Everyone thanked him, mouths full of cookies, though, so it wasn't very understandable.

"Hey! How come snot face over here gets them all?" Sam asked. Peter had four cookies he was protecting from the onslaught of heroes and Sam seemed to be the first to notice.

"Because I'm sad and this is comfort food," Peter replied. Sam scoffed and tried to snatch one of his cookies. Peter whacked his hand and Sam back up.

"Oh no, this kid is fine," Sam announced to everyone. "He's fighting me for cookies." No one paid much attention to them and Sam was left to grab the last remaining chocolate chip cookie. He glared at Peter who grinned innocently back. Once the cookies were gone, things calmed down while the heroes enjoyed their snack. As soon as the oven beeped, though, everyone raced to be the closest to Bucky and the cookies.

"Hey! Back up or no one gets any!" Bucky yelled. Everyone left the kitchen and stood behind the counter, watching as Bucky took the snicker doodles out of the oven and set them to cool. He dumped the cookies that had been cooling earlier onto the counter and stepped back, watching everyone dive for the cookies.

"You have three! That's not fair!" Clint yelled at Natasha. She just bit into each one then offered one to him. He took it anyway and she tackled him.

"I don't understand what the rush is," Vision said, staying far from the counter. Wanda carried seven cookies over to him with a victorious grin.

"Bucky made cookies and they're the best," Wanda told him, biting into her first cookie. If Vision thought she was going to give him some, he was very wrong. He realised this when she had eaten all seven cookies then asked him where his were.

"I thought you were getting me one," Vision said. Wanda looked guilty for only a split second. She used her magic to grab a cookie off the cooling rack and gave it to Vision. He tried it and the next time Bucky set cookies on the counter, he was pushing his way to the front as well.

* * *

Pepper pulled up to the Compound and stopped the car. Tony still looked miserable, but he wasn't crying anymore. He slowly unbuckled his seat belt and opened his door. Pepper offered him her hand and he latched onto it tightly. She led them up to the Compound doors and knocked twice. She didn't wait for answer. She pushed the door open and led Tony inside, looking around for the team. She heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen and rounded the corner to see everyone fighting over something on the counter. Bucky was pulling a tray from the oven and it looked like cookies were cooling to the side.

"What? No cookies for us?" Pepper asked, drawing everyone's attention. The cookies were forgotten as everyone looked up to see Pepper and Tony. Peter stared at his dad, realising how awful he looked. Pepper spotted Peter and smiled at him. "Peter, can we talk real quick?" she asked. Peter nodded and grabbed three cookies before following his mom and dad down the hall the his room.


	22. Chapter 22

Pepper shut the door to Peter's room after they had all walked inside. Peter shyly handed a cookie to his dad and Tony smiled, thanking him then eating it. He handed one to his mom and she did the same. Taking the last cookie for himself, Peter sat down on his bed and looked at the floor. He wasn't sure if they were going to punish him for what he said or just talk to him, but either way, he didn't want to look at them as they both said how disappointed in him their were.

"Peter, we're not mad at you," Pepper said. Peter had expected her to say this. He also knew what would follow was 'we're just disappointed'. However, that's not what Pepper said. "I don't know what happened, but I know you two should talk. Neither of you can leave until everything is resolved, you hear?" Peter nodded. He heard his bedroom door open and close as his mom left, leaving him and his dad alone together. Peter waited for his dad to start telling him off for what he said, but he didn't. Tony sat down on the bed beside Peter and looked at the ground as well.

"I really am sorry," Tony said. Peter refused to move, worried he would somehow make his dad upset if he even shifted on the bed. "I guess I'm just not used to the idea of you being old enough to take care of yourself. I thought that by getting after your bully myself, things would be easier for you. Instead, I ruined your chances at a regular high school life." Peter still didn't say anything. He didn't know how to respond and he was worried he might start crying again if he did. "I destroyed all my Iron Man suits." Peter's head snapped up at this and his eyes widened. "I figured if you thought he wasn't really a hero, then maybe it was true. Maybe Iron Man really does just-"

"No!" Peter interrupted, shaking his head. "Iron Man is the best hero there is. He's my favourite hero."

"But you said-"

"I was mad," Peter told him. He sighed and looked back down at his folded hands. "I was upset and thought you felt like I couldn't defend myself, so I said stuff I didn't mean." Peter took a shaky breath and blinked back tears. "Iron Man doesn't make things worse; he fixes stuff even when he isn't in the suit. And I don't really wish you weren't my dad. You're the best dad ever and I'm glad you want to help me fix my problems, but sometimes I wish you just let me fix them and then just help out if I can't fix it entirely." Peter cursed himself as tears started down his face.  He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked back up at his dad. Tony had silent tears on his cheeks as well and that just made Peter feel even worse. "I understand if you hate me for saying that stuff. I can go live with Ned if you want me gone."

"Peter, I don't want you gone," Tony said immediately. He wiped his tears and hugged Peter tightly. Peter wrapped his arms around his dad as they both cried. "You're growing up and I needed to realise that. Both of us messed up today, but now we can work together and figure out how to go about things next time something like this happens. However, if you are bullied again, I want you to tell me." Peter nodded and hugged Tony tightly.

"I love you, Dad," Peter said, his voice shaking. Tony squeezed Peter tightly and kissed his head.

"I love you too," he said. "But next time, can we agree to talk to each other before fighting?" Peter nodded and pulled away from the hug, wiping his face. "All good?" Tony asked. Peter nodded and sniffled. Tony wiped his face then stood up. "Now, I believe Mr. Barnes has some snicker doodles that want to be eaten." Peter gave a small laugh.

"I'm pretty sure they're all gone by now," he said. He opened his bedroom door and they walked down the hall to the kitchen. Surprisingly, there was a small plate of ten snicker doodles sitting by the stove. Bucky smiled at them both when he heard the walk in.

"Those are for you," he said, pointing to the plate. "Pepper and I managed to fight off the herd of super humans and save them for you two." Peter grinned and took a cookie. Tony took one as well.

"Thanks, Bucky," Peter grinned. Bucky nodded and went back to washing the dishes. Once Peter and Tony had finished their cookies, they joined the rest of the team in the living room. Pepper smiled at the two of them and they both joined her on a couch.

"Did you two settle everything?" Pepper asked. Peter nodded, curling up against her and tucking his feet up under himself. Pepper wrapped an arm around him and kissed his head while Tony sat on her other side.

"I just wish I didn't have to go back to homeschool," Peter said. Wanda grinned and shook her head.

"You won't have to," she told him. Peter looked at her in confusion and she explained how she had altered their memory. "When you go back to school on Monday, they'll probably tell you all about the trip. They think you were sick and missed out on the whole thing."

"Even Ned and Michelle?" Peter asked. Wanda nodded.

"I didn't have enough time to specialise each memory, so they'll all remember the same thing," she told him. Peter grinned and thanked her. She just shrugged.

"Well, we should head home so I can start on dinner," Pepper said. Peter looked at the floor, smiling a little. "Don't tell me you're full of cookies." Peter's smile grew. "You had six!"

"Actually, I ate a whole plate and a half before you came," Peter told her. Pepper looked like she had just heard him say the worst sentence ever. Peter laughed as she glared at Steve and Natasha, accusing them of making her son develop bad eating habits.

"Hey, Bucky was the one that made them," Steve pointed out. Bucky protested from then kitchen and Pepper rolled her eyes.

"He's not the one who let Peter eat who knows how many cookies," she said. Peter decided not to tell her he knew how many cookies he had eaten. The number was not low.


	23. Epilogue

The following Monday, Peter walked into homeroom expecting Flash to yell out some comment he could just ignore. However, Flash said nothing. He just glared at Peter then went back to his conversation with his friends. Peter was surprised, but said nothing. He was perfectly fine with Flash not bullying him. He had just assumed that since Flash hadn't remembered being yelled at by Tony Stark, he would continue his regular bullying.

"Peter!" Ned called, waving from the back of the room. Peter grinned and walked over to Ned. "Dude, you missed out big time on Friday. I mean, I know you go there all the time, but still." Ned told Peter about the tour their the intelligence offices and then how they got to watch Natasha fight Steve and Clint. Ned had found it the coolest thing while Michelle just rolled her eyes.

"It was cool," she agreed. "But not as cool as Google." Peter didn't say anything, but he silently agreed. Google was just too amazing to top.

"Alright, everybody," Mr. Hanley called. He did roll and started their regular homeroom routine. Michelle read the entire time and Peter drew caricatures in his notebook. Ned nearly fell asleep, but Peter nudged him to make sure he stayed awake.

* * *

As it turned out, Flash not bullying Peter was only a homeroom thing. He continued to mock Peter in the halls and make insulting comments every now and then, but Peter did nothing. He figured as long as he could just ignore Flash, he wouldn't provoke him enough to get punched again. His dad had said if that ever happened again, Peter would have to switch schools. He didn't have to return to homeschooling, but he would be leaving Midtown High for a place where he wasn't getting bullied. That's why Peter thought it was an accomplishment when he went the whole day without getting punched.

"How was school?" Tony asked as Peter climbed into passenger seat of the suburban. "Did that kid bully you more?"

"Yeah, but it was just comments," Peter answered, fastening his seat belt. "I ignored them, though, and he stopped making them after lunch."

"That's progress," Tony said, pulling out of the parking lot. Peter nodded. "Oh hey, I was thinking: your cover about being my intern has inspired me. What would you think about Stark Industries opening up internship opportunities for high school kids? We already have a few for college grads, but if I opened it up to high school kids then your cover would seem legit and more kids could come experience the Stark Industries lifestyle." Peter chuckled, but it did sound like a good idea.

"I think it would be good," Peter said. Tony nodded, obviously off in his thoughts for a moment. When he snapped back to attention, Peter continued. "What were you thinking it would entail?"

"Coffee runs," Tony replied. Peter rolled his eyes and Tony chuckled. "Just stuff like filing, answering phones, stuff like that. Basic intern things."

"Have you talked to Mom about it?" Peter asked. He knew Tony tended to get an idea and not consult Pepper first. Sometimes that caused problems.

"She was actually the one who came up with the idea," Tony admitted. Peter wasn't all that surprised. His mom was all about renewable energy and making kids grow up responsible. Starting a high school internship at Stark Industries wasn't surprising for her.

They talked about what the internship could offer and how they would make selections all the way home. They walked into the penthouse talking about it and only stopped when Pepper said Bruce was back down in the lab and had made a breakthrough. Apparently he had shown up minutes after Tony had left to drop off Peter at school in the morning. He had spent the entire day with a red band on his computer and only recently come running upstairs to tell Pepper all about it. Pepper didn't have to say much more to get both Peter and Tony running down to the lab to find Bruce.

"Uncle Bruce!" Peter called, opening up the lab door. Bruce looked up from his work station and grinned. He beckoned them over and began explaining what he had done. Peter's generator had been just what they needed. He had finished it and put the algae inside. After making a few tweaks to the model, Bruce had left it alone for a few hours. When he came back, the algae had produced so much energy the generator couldn't hold it all.

"Peter, you were a genius!" Bruce exclaimed at the end. He hugged Peter tightly then let him go to pull up the report he had sent to various science publishers. He told them how he had come up with his theory and how he had worked on it. He had told how Peter Parker, the son of a close friend, had been the one to come up with a functional energy harvester and therefore been one of the leading causes to his breakthrough.

"You're famous, Peter!" Tony exclaimed. Peter grinned.

"Everyone at school is going to wonder how I know Uncle Bruce, though," Peter said. Bruce's grin dropped as he realised his mistake.

"Oh man, I'm sorry, Peter," Bruce said. "I just wanted to make sure you got the credit you deserved." Peter smiled and promised it was alright.

"Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" Peter asked. "Flash realises I'm close to the Hulk? I think that would keep him from bullying me." Bruce's eyes widened and so did Peter's. He had forgotten Bruce didn't know about that.

"What?" he exclaimed. Peter and Tony rushed to tell him it was all taken care of now, Flash wasn't bothering Peter as much anymore. It didn't seem to do much in relaxing Bruce. "Well, then it's a good thing he'll see your name under my publication," Bruce said.

It took a month for the article to be published but as soon as it was, kids at school hounded Peter about how he knew Bruce Banner. Peter tried to explain how he just knew him through his dad, but that only brought up more questions. How did Peter's dad know Bruce Banner? Why was Peter trying to avoid questions? In the end, Peter just though 'screw it' and told his dad he wanted to just go back to being Peter Stark.

"You'll get paparazzi following you everywhere," Tony said. He didn't like the idea of Peter announcing who he really was. "You will never have a private life again and people will try to be your friend just for the perks." Peter shrugged.

"I can handle it, Dad," he said. Tony still didn't like the idea. "It's not like I don't know who would and wouldn't have been my friends anyway." Tony finally agreed and they changed his name back to Peter Stark over Christmas break. They also held Peter's first press conference to announce him to the world where Peter waited backstage with his mom until Tony raised a hand out to him. Peter hurried on stage and stood beside his dad, smiling at the bright camera flashes. 

"This is Peter," Tony told the reporters. "And he's my son."

The next time Peter went to school, it wasn't in the suburban and his dad didn't park in the far corner. Of course, kids tried to be friends with him and Flash was nearly in tears as he apologised to Peter for bullying him. He begged Peter to be his friend, but Peter refused. Ned and Michelle were thrilled to discover Peter didn't want anyone else as friends and Michelle quickly scared off anyone that tried to push their way into Peter's friend circle. Peter had asked his dad multiple times if he regretted announcing Peter to the world, but he got the same answer every time.

"No," Tony said as he shook his head with a smile. "It was one of the things that just showed you were grown up. I generally try to avoid those."

**The End!**


	24. Author's Note

So, this book is over! I hope you liked it. I got the idea from a friend and worked hard to make this book good. It's longer than my other full books, too, so I feel like that's an accomplishment.

I won't be making a sequel right away. I don't plan on making one anyway, but I just want everyone that wants a sequel to know it definitely won't be out in the next few weeks or maybe ever. I have quite a few other books I'm trying to finish up and a few I have planned to start and I'm going to do those first. I'm glad you liked it enough for a sequel, though!

Anyway, thank you for reading my book! If you're interested in more like it, check out my profile for the other books on Tony and Peter father-son relationship that I've written. Thanks again for all your support!


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